New Beginnings: The Everett Family Saga Continues
by Helena Mira
Summary: A new baby and a couple of new schools make for a new beginning for the family as the school year starts up and everyone grows up a little more. Changing relationships present a challenge, but the love present at the center of family life keeps everyone happy.
1. Prologue

_I do not own these characters and make no profit from their use._

**New Beginnings: The Everett Sage Continues**

**Prologue: Phoebe**

The month of September seemed to have disappeared for Phoebe nearly as soon as it started. Her life was centered on her infant daughter Maisie, but she was also very busy as she once again took over the daily business of running the house and helping the children adjust to school. Not to mention helping her husband adjust to his lighter work schedule since he was on sabbatical for the fall semester.

The lethargy that she had felt in the last month or so of pregnancy had dissipated. And the edge had come off the grief and sadness that she had felt after the sudden loss of her parents almost two years ago. Life, as it always did, continued its forward trajectory and was now filled with the simple pleasures of being a wife and mother.

She found that she was able to focus more easily on daily tasks and look toward the future without trepidation. It had been a year since she and Hal had married. In fact the one-year anniversary, after the intense joy of the birth of their first child, was simply a place marker on the calendar. A celebration would have been somewhat beside the point.

There was no joy that could compare with the entrance of her little darling into the world. Now that the baby was born she felt as if things had finally come to a point where they all were blended into a single family. Her transition from nanny to mother had not been as seamless as any of them had expected.

Her relationship with each of the children had subtly changed after the marriage. Her emotions were engaged with each of them in a different way. Before the wedding there had almost been a fairy tale like quality to her relationship with them and their father Hal, previously known to her as "the Professor."

There was the motherless home with three children yearning, either consciously or unconsciously, for a woman to fill the void in each of their lives that had been left by their deceased mother. They had been acting out and chasing off previous housekeepers before she had shown up on their doorstep. And they all wanted more attention from their father.

Just as in the fairy stories, like a combination fairy godmother and guardian angel, she put their lives back to rights and then sought to do the same for their father so that things would end "happily ever after" when he remarried a woman who would come in and make the family whole once more. She had done it before. Her gifts of intuition and prescience allowed her to sort through the clutter of feelings and emotions so that she could discern their minds and hearts. She had been positive that when the right woman came along, the Professor would conveniently fall in love with her.

But somewhere in the process, things were muddled and then thrown off kilter. She developed strong, yet latent, feelings for the man whom she was seeking to marry off to another woman who would be the loving spouse and mother to make the family complete. She had rather easily ignored or suppressed these emotions due to the fact that she had been previously promised to someone else. But the sudden and devastating loss of her own mother and father, and her subsequent custody of her younger sister created an unusual dilemma for her.

She had always "known" that at the right moment she would "declare victory" and move on to her next job. All other things being equal, this should have been that moment. Her betrothed from birth had shown up and decided that it was time for them to marry, return to the village, and begin their life together as the guardians of her sister. Determined to fulfill her parents' wishes, she had swallowed hard and prepared to accept her familial duty and what she believed was her fate.

But she had become too attached to the Everett family. Her sister, Trelawney, whose intuitions and prescience exceeded her own saw it practically the minute she walked in the door. She insisted that they stay and then did her utmost best to help her realize those latent feelings for the Professor. Hal had been much easier for her to convince. His scientific mind analyzed the situation and determined the solution. He loved her and he would marry her. In the end, this was what happened.

But the family dynamic changed the instant that they were married. All of their feelings deepened for each other. This had both positive and negative effects due to the fact that the previous (mostly) harmonious balance had been disturbed. And there were residual conflicts and issues from both of their previous lives.

Her sister had a childhood trauma that needed to be resolved before she could move on. The children's maternal grandmother initially refused to accept her and when she did, their progress towards a true relationship was slow and tentative. They all needed, in some way shape or form, to let go of the past so that they could move into the future together.

She supposed that some people might have thought that it was foolish of them to add another person into the mix before other things had been settled. But is anything in life ever truly settled? The child would be born at the time she was destined. Her fate had been written. And a part of that fate had ultimately been that she was the cohesive force that brought the family together. Sibling rivalry aside, this child was the common bond between all of them, Figalilly and Everett alike.

Maisie would never know a time when she and her father were not married, that his children were not also her children. She was constantly present, surveying them all with the wisdom born of her Figalilly heritage. Phoebe's father-in-law, Rob, had made a car bed of sorts that she could bring with her around the house so that she was never far from her. It was sturdy but lightweight. While she cooked, cleaned, or did any of her other thousand chores, the baby would lie there and sleep or look around. When she was hungry, she could easily pick her up to nurse.

On her first visit to the pediatrician, the doctor warned her that she should not just pick her up to nurse whenever she cried. She told her that she needed to get her used to a feeding schedule. But in Phoebe's little village back in England, women never talked about feeding schedules, just as they didn't use bottles. They did what was natural. When they baby was hungry, she was fed.

After seven weeks, all the children, even Butch, were used to it. But because she was up and about and once again actively engaged in all their lives they didn't mind the fact that the baby came first. Each in his or her own way was developing his or her own sense of independence. It also helped that due to his timely sabbatical, Hal was much more available to them than they could ever remember. But she could also see that he was finally in a position himself to more fully enjoy parenthood with all of its joys and challenges.

The only twinge of sadness that she now felt was that her sister was still not living under their roof. Because she understood the workings of fate and destiny better than most, she knew better than to question the assumption that the time was not right. Her mind knew this, but her heart still ached. She and Trelawney filled a place in each other's heart that no one else could. Whenever she saw her, she realized with a pang that even she was acquiring more self-sufficiency.

She was busy and happy in her new school. It was good for her to feel a measure of independence, but there were times when Phoebe needed her. Their mother had cultivated and nurtured a very deep psychic bond between them, despite their sometimes, long separations because of her choice of life's work. It wasn't until recently that Phoebe had realized her own emotional dependence on the child.

Their souls were intertwined from long forgotten lifetimes. They had previously lived lives together as close relations. There was no empirical evidence of this, merely an innate understanding on both their parts. Trelawney's soul and very being had been wounded in this lifetime. Her fragile psyche was slowly repairing itself, but she still needed Phoebe as well.

She was, and probably always be, a simple soul baffled by the complexities of the modern world. Her spirit was still easily wounded. Her new school provided a shelter from some of the harsher realities of adolescent life in 1970's California, but there were still going to be difficult spots. Such a sensitive soul would never be entirely at peace in the modern world. Simply put, she was a throw back to a long lost era.

And there were still times when the world of Trelawney's dollhouse was more real to her than the world around her. Because she was without her sister's second sight there was no way for Phoebe to know if there was not some element of reality to the little world of the dolls Mimsy, Tansy, and now Daisy. When they played, at times she feared that her sister was not able to fully distinguish between fantasy and reality. As her connections with the cosmos strengthened, the thin line between the physical and metaphysical worlds was narrowing for her.

As the autumnal equinox passed and summer gave way to fall, Phoebe felt an odd sort of renewal. It was the one that she often felt in the springtime at home, but in California the weather was not so varied as it was in England. And with the birth of her child in late summer and all the children starting a new year in school, there was a sense of rebirth all around in the air. The future looked bright for them all.

_To be continued . . ._


	2. The Best Year Ever

**The Best Year Ever: Butch**

The new school year had begun a month ago with all the energy and excitement that always accompanied it. Butch and Prudence had returned Franklin Elementary School for fifth and second grades respectively. Hal had begun high school and Trelawney had started her new school, an all-girls Catholic school on the other side of town.

Of the four children, only Butch had been reluctant to return. After the freedom of summer days on the baseball field, he had no desire to spend his days sitting inside the classroom, behind a desk, and listening to some "boring" new teacher. But a surprise awaited him when he got there.

When he walked into his assigned fifth grade classroom, there was a MAN sitting behind the desk. He and his friend Martin looked at each other in bewilderment. This had to be a mistake. Whoever heard of having a gym teacher for your fifth grade teacher?

After all, the only men teachers that they had ever met were gym teachers. But this guy was wearing a jacket and tie, just like their Dads did when they went to teach at the university. But this wasn't the university. It wasn't even a high school or a middle school. Whoever heard of a MAN for a fifth grade teacher?

"Hello, boys," he said cheerfully as he stood up from behind the desk. "You must be Butch Everett and Martin Pulski. I'm Mr. McGough and I'm going to be your teacher this year."

Butch and Martin's mouths dropped open, as they looked up at the tall, blonde man with his twinkling blue eyes. He looked pretty young for a teacher and was smiling pleasantly.

"Wait a minute," said Martin. "How did you know our names?"

"Your reputations precede you," he answered, clearly amused.

"Huh?" said Butch.

"Your teacher from last year told me all about you two," he chuckled. "She even pointed you out to me in the class picture."

"Uh, oh," said Martin uncomfortably. "Did she give you my Dad's phone number too? Last year she made him give her the number to his direct line at the university."

"Me too," nodded Butch.

"She did," he said mischievously. "But I'll tell you a secret. I threw them away."

"Why?" asked Martin now looking completely confused.

Butch knew that it had become a matter of pride for him (and his father) that he kept his teachers "honest." Dr. Pulski got a real kick out of his son's ability to outsmart his teachers on most occasions. Whenever Martin did get caught, he always had a snappy comeback that indicated that he was proud of his son and secretly pleased by his talent for harmless mischief and pranks.

"Because I don't think that I'll be needing them," he replied. "I'm sure that both your fathers are much to busy to worry about the little up and downs in the classroom."

"My Dad's on a sabbatical," said Butch. "And he's always on my case about school. He'll have plenty of time to tell you about what a bad student I am the first time you have to call him up."

"Well let's see if we can keep him off your case," said Mr. McGough. "I never did like gossip, so let's just say that with me as your teacher, you're beginning the year with a clean slate."

"Cool," said Butch, in relief.

And Mr. McGough was a pretty cool guy. Instead of lining up the desks in rows, he made a big circle around the classroom with them. He said that it would encourage them to speak up in class if they could see each other. Then he let them pick where they wanted to sit. Normally, Butch and Martin would have headed for the back of the room. But there was no "back" of the room if the desks were in a circle. But at least they could sit next to each other.

After everyone was seated, Mr. McGough made an announcement.

"You may stay in these seats unless you give me a reason to move you," he said sternly. "Any disruptions in class will be dealt with swiftly."

As he continued to speak, Butch realized that he wasn't talking to them like they were little kids. He used big words as if he thought that they understood them. He didn't speak with that funny little voice that his other teachers used when they explained stuff. It was the voice that somehow implied that they were stupid or at the very least were only there to cause trouble. He spoke in a normal tone of voice too, not that "fake nice" voice that some teachers used on the first day of school before they lost their patience.

And he called them ladies and gentlemen. He explained that if he was going to address them respectfully then they were going to address him and the rest of the students respectfully. He took respect very seriously. He had also looked at the pictures of all the students in his class, not just Butch and Martin. He said that he wanted to call them by their correct names from day one.

Normally, the school morning dragged for Butch. It was so boring. However, Mr. McGough's class was different. He kept moving from subject to subject, both talking and asking questions. And he wanted them to talk too. When the bell rang for lunch, Butch was actually surprised. The time had passed so quickly that he didn't even realize it. All through lunch, he and the guys talked about what a cool teacher they had and how this was going to be the best year ever. But when they returned to class they got a big surprise.

Mr. McGough announced when they got back from lunch that he had a special treat for them. This year they were going to get to read some plays by Shakespeare. Butch groaned and leaned back in his chair. He knew that it was too good to be true. There had to be a catch somewhere. He knew all about Shakespeare because Mom's sister Trelawney had read just about every play that the guy wrote. And that was a lot of plays. And they were long. And they were written in some kind of weird language that was just barely English.

Mr. McGough noticed his reaction, which was much stronger than that of the rest of the class and looked at him curiously.

"Are you familiar with Shakespeare, Butch?"

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth.

"What do you know about his works?" he asked pleasantly, ignoring the blatant hostility in his voice.

"My . . . well . . . um, Trelawney loves Shakespeare," he explained. "Sometimes she reads his plays to us. They are long and boring and don't make any sense."

The other kids looked restless. Most of them had probably only heard the name Shakespeare before. As far as he knew, no one had a relative who could even compare with Trelawney. Everyone in town knew how weird she was.

"Hmm," commented Mr. McGough. "What makes them boring?"

"I dunno," said Butch with a shrug. "They are written with really weird words. And all the characters have really weird names. You can't even tell what the story is about."

"Oh," he said. "I see. Well do you like stories with murder?"

"Heck yeah!" he said.

"With blood? With intrigue? With battle and war?" asked Mr. McGough.

"Sure. Why can't we read stories like that?" he replied.

"We are," said Mr. McGough patiently. "We're reading Shakespeare's play _MacBeth _first."

"Ugh," said one of the girls at the same time as she politely raised her hand. "I don't want to read that. It sounds just awful"

Mr. McGough turned to her.

"Do you like comedy and romance?" he asked.

"Oh, yes!" she said.

"Well," he said. "After we read _MacBeth, _we're going to read _A Midsummer Night's Dream."_

"Wait! You mean Shakespeare really wrote all that different kind of stuff?" asked Martin, so surprised that he forgot to raise his hand.

"He sure did," answered Mr. McGough. "Now I know that the language is a little difficult, but we'll take it slow in the beginning. I'm sure that you're all smart enough to catch on."

All the kids looked around doubtfully at each other. It was only the first day of school and this guy was already trying to trick them into doing hard stuff. He seemed to think that if he _told _them that they were smart that they would be so flattered that they would do whatever he wanted. Mr. McGough looked around at the twenty-five doubtful faces in front of him.

"Look," he said. "We'll read the plays in class and discuss them here. You won't have to have any homework or tests on them."

"You mean it?" asked Butch in disbelief.

"Cross my heart," said Mr. McGough with a smile.

Martin looked at him and nudged him with his elbow. Holy cow! It looked like they hit the jackpot. They would be getting to spend class doing something that had no homework or tests. This guy was a sucker! Didn't he realize that you couldn't really learn anything without tests and homework? Suddenly, it looked again like it really was going to be the best year ever.

At dinner that night, he told Mom and Dad all about his new teacher. He bragged about the fact that he was the only man teacher in the school except the gym teacher and he didn't count. Hal was unimpressed.

"A lot of my teachers have been men since seventh grade," he said. "It's not such a big deal."

"Did you have a man teacher in the fifth grade?" asked Butch triumphantly since he already knew the answer.

"No," admitted Hal.

"Well, hah!" replied Butch. "And we get to read Shakespeare this year."

"You _get _to read Shakespeare?" asked Dad in a surprised voice.

"Yeah," bragged Butch. "And we put one over on Mr. McGough. He was so anxious to read it that he's not going to give us any homework or tests on it."

Mom and Dad looked at each other and smiled.

"Yes," said Dad with a smile. "You sure put one over on him."

But Prudence, who always had to grab the attention, now put her two cents in.

"My teacher is Miss Winters," she said. "She said that you were her student Butch."

"So what about it?" asked Butch.

"She is making me sit in the front of the room until she knows that I'm not like you," she pouted. "I wish that I could get one of Hal's old teachers. At least she would like me."

Butch rolled his eyes.

"Miss Winters has no sense of humor," he said.

"Do I dare ask how you know that?" asked Mom.

The other four looked at each other. The whole "Miss Winters Episode" had happened before Mom had come to live with them. They all laughed just thinking about it.

"What do you think, gang?" asked Dad.

"Go for it," said Hal.

"Can I tell it?" asked Butch. "It's my story."

"Okay," said Dad. "But remember that you all need to get to bed at a decent time."

"Okay," said Butch carelessly. "It goes like this. Miss Winters was real strict about a lot of different things. I mean she had so many rules that you couldn't even remember them all."

"She still does," affirmed Prudence rolling her eyes.

"Anyway," continued Butch. "Me and Martin got tired of the rule that when the aide brought us back from lunch, we weren't allowed to come into the classroom until she came back. We had to stand out in the hallway in complete silence and if we made noise then we had to stay after school. The problem was that she was always late and we got bored and our feet hurt."

"She doesn't have that rule anymore," interrupted Prudence.

"I'm not surprised," added Dad.

"C'mon," said Butch. "I thought that you wanted me to finish the story before midnight."

"We're all ears," said Dad smiling and looking around at everyone else.

"So _anyway," _he said emphatically. "Me and Martin told all of the other kids what to do. We figured that she was supposed to be on time if we had to be on time. Some of the girls were afraid that they would get in trouble, but we thought that she wouldn't punish the whole class."

"Did she?" asked Mom.

"And how," replied Butch. "So one day, after the aide dropped us off, we very quietly went back outside and hid. It took her a whole hour to find us. And when she did, you should have heard her holler at us! You know, some of the other teachers came out when they heard the noise. You could tell that they were trying not to laugh. But instead of staying after school, we had to stay in for recess for a whole week."

"And Pulski and I both got hauled into Mrs. Harper's office," added Dad. "The first of many times. It does make me wonder that they keep putting you two in the same class."

"I dunno," said Butch. "But I haven't told you the best part."

"And what is that?" asked Mom with a smile.

"It RAINED for the whole week that we had to stay inside," he declared triumphantly. "So we couldn't have gone out for recess anyway!"

Mom looked at Dad and shook her head. Dad shrugged while Prudence giggled and Hal tried to look like he was too mature to find such a childish prank funny, as he told Butch later. But Butch didn't care. Hal never got into trouble because he didn't want to miss out on learning anything. Butch got in trouble to avoid learning stuff.

But now a month later, Dad and Dr. Pulski had still not been called down to school. It wasn't that Butch was trying to stay out of trouble. He and Martin just never had any opportunities to get into trouble. Mr. McGough kept them too busy. When he taught them there were always lots of things to see and do. One of the reasons why the desks were in a circle was that he often called them out in the middle to do things.

Most of the teachers that Butch had had before did a lot of the talking. Mr. McGough talked, but he also wanted them to talk. And he liked to walk around the circle and suddenly turn and point and say, "Mr. Everett, what was the first capital of the United States?" That was another thing. Part of Mr. McGough's whole respect thing was that while he was teaching he called you "Mr." or "Miss." First names were for recess and lunch only.

If you answered a question right, you got a plastic coin and when you got enough coins you could buy candy from "McGough's Market" when it was open every Friday before recess. It was so cool. Everyone wanted to get the chance to answer questions _and _answer them right. Butch couldn't wait to get to class everyday and show him how much he knew.

And Shakespeare wasn't so bad after all. He hated to admit it, but Mr. McGough was right. Reading the plays was like reading another language. But once you got used to it, it all made sense. And the stories were pretty good too, once you could figure out what was going on. They always read the play out loud and sometimes they would act parts of it out.

Butch made everyone laugh, because he would imitate the way that Trelawney talked when he read his part. The first time he did it, Mr. McGough stared at him.

"Butch," he said in amazement. "That was a terrific British accent you just did. Where did you pick up that talent?"

"Oh my Mom and her sister," he said carelessly. "And all of their million relatives."

"Well, I'm impressed," he replied. "You are a very good mimic. If I didn't know better I might think that you _were _British."

Butch shrugged.

"It's not so hard. If you had to listen to Trelawney as much as I do, you could imitate her voice too," he answered.

Mr. McGough looked at him kind of funny. Butch thought that he had kind of surprised him. I mean, thought Butch, I don't like school, but it's not like I'm stupid or anything. After that, whenever he read, Mr. McGough wanted him to use his Trelawney voice. The other kids tried to do it too but they sounded fake. That's because they didn't have to live with it. But then he realized that at least Trelawney was good for something. Her funny accent had gotten him in good with the teacher. And that was the first time that that had ever happened.

_To be continued . . ._


	3. Reunion

**Reunion: The Professor**

Hal Everett walked into his bedroom after one of his half days working on their NASA project with his colleagues Fisk and Pulski at the university. Everything was going well. In fact they were on target to meet their deadline in February. Hal was hopeful that between now and the end of his sabbatical in mid-January they could be almost done. He would not have to spend his first month back on the job, working his old twelve to fifteen hour days. However the minute he saw his wife and youngest daughter, he put all thoughts of work out of his mind. This was their time.

Phoebe was sitting in the rocking chair while Maisie nursed at her breast. As always, the infant drank greedily as she looked up at her Mum adoringly. But she was growing into a strong and healthy girl. Phoebe was gazing down at her with that look of amazement that never quite left her face for these past seven weeks. She cuddled the child close and kissed her head. Maisie's little hand clutched at her mother's breast, possessively? Who could know what a child so young thought?

Like all infants, the child slept in a cradle beside their bed at night. She was too young to sleep through the night and it was easier for Phoebe to reach her quickly to nurse her if she slept there. In the first weeks after she was born, she seemed to have her mother's undivided attention. But as she grew older, the other children came on their mother's radar screen, not to mention himself.

They had been married for a year now, and it was at that time that Hal had discovered what a deeply passionate woman she was. Since the child had been born, it appeared that those passions had been sublimated to maternal instincts. However last night in bed, Phoebe had let him know that those desires were still burning as hot as ever.

They went to bed at their usual time. She always got ready first. When he came to bed, he noticed that she was huddled under the covers. Absentmindedly, he stroked her golden hair and softly asked her if she was tired. She shook her head and asked him to lock the door. A bit surprised, he obeyed her and when he turned around discovered a most welcome sight.

His beautiful wife lay before him with an invitation in her eyes. While she had shed most of her "baby bulk" her breasts had remained rounder and her hips a bit wider. She no longer had the figure of a young maiden, but the voluptuousness of a woman. And it was this new woman that he would now explore.

He turned off the light, so that only the moonlight steamed through the window and quickly discarded his nightclothes. He lay beside her, leaning up on his elbow so that he could take in her full beauty. He began his exploration with her mouth, but quickly moved his lips to her breasts. He wondered if nursing had made them more or less sensitive to his stimulation. He discovered it was more as he heard her moan for the first time in months.

The sound of her desire immediately created a response in his own body. He knew that moan. It was the moan of desire that could only be satisfied by one thing. But before he took her, he wanted to enjoy the exquisite longing of her desire. Moving lower, he followed her body length until he found what he wanted. First he gently stroked with his fingers to reawaken her. Fearful that this first time might be painful, he wanted to make sure that she was as fully aroused as he was.

He was so aroused that it hurt, especially when he felt her shudder below him. He knew that she was ready. He trailed his mouth back up to her lips where he found her mouth open and waiting for him. Then he gently entered her. Here, she was also waiting for him and accepted him eagerly. Concerned that he might hurt her if she were still sensitive from childbirth, he moved slowly and gently, establishing a peaceful rhythm.

But he quickly discovered that she wanted more. She increased the momentum. Baby or not, she had missed him as much as he had missed her. She was also as hungry as he was. The intensity of her desire, combined with the months of denial made him explode quickly. And after he was spent he apologized.

"For what?" she asked, as she reached up to smooth back the hair that had fallen over his forehead fondly.

"I'm afraid that things went a little more quickly than usual," he replied.

"We have all night," she said seductively. "Who says that we only have one chance to get it right?"

Reflexively he smiled as he gazed into her beautiful eyes. Then he pulled her on top and once again began to demonstrate his pleasure in their physical reunion. Her hair was still thick and silky and her skin impossibly soft. His mind began to turn to all the different ways that he could express his gratitude.

And so they enjoyed one another until the baby started crying. At that point Phoebe got up to take care of her. From his place in bed, he watched as she guided the little pink, rosebud mouth to the pink nipple with practiced hand. It was odd to see his passionate lover of a few minutes ago suddenly turned into a Madonna. She looked up at him and rewarded him with one of her soft smiles. Every time he saw them together like this, he saw the radiance that emanated from her very being.

Once they had stopped their lovemaking, he began to feel sleepy. In fact when she was done feeding the baby, he was barely aware of her as she curled up in his arms. Her warmth and scent filled his senses and intoxicated his barely conscious mind. But he didn't need to be fully awake to embrace her. He had been sleeping with her in his arms each night for the past year. His arms would have felt empty without her. As he drifted off he heard her softly murmur.

"Welcome home, lover."

"I love you with all my heart," he responded and then fell into a deep sleep.

Now as she looked up at him in the bright afternoon light, her lips curled up into a smile that told him that she was remembering last night as well. He walked over to where she was sitting, intending to drop a quick kiss on her lips. But she wanted more and opened her mouth wider. He happily obliged and enjoyed once more the sensation of her hunger. As he released her, she smiled up at him.

"Tonight?" she asked unnecessarily, since she already knew the answer.

"Tonight," he answered firmly and drew his finger softly across her cheek. She shivered.

He was rewarded with another seductive smile. She bent her head down towards little Maisie as she released and snuggled against her Mum. Phoebe pulled her blouse closed and rested the baby up against her shoulder to burp her. Hal had noticed that that baby didn't have to burp as much when nursing then when bottle-feeding. Phoebe explained that the infant swallowed air with the formula from the bottle. This was not a problem when drinking from the breast.

"May I hold her?" he asked.

"Of course, come on Maisie, let's go to your Daddy," she said as she handed her over and they changed places.

Hal cradled his daughter in his arms and she looked up at him with the same dark blue eyes as her mother. She seemed to smile at him as if she knew who he was. But they were still waiting for that first real smile. He wondered who the honored recipient would be.

"Of course she knows who you are," said Phoebe sagely. "She's been listening to your voice all these months. And you were the one who handed her to me after you cut the umbilical cord."

"I was, wasn't I?" he said, smiling down at the infant. "You do know your Daddy, don't you?"

Phoebe stood up and said, "Why don't you two spend some time together while I make dinner?"

Hal's heart was too full to reply. He looked down at the child and up at her mother and knew that they had both given him more joy than he could remember having in a long time. The older children would soon be home from school and activities. When he could, he liked to get home early so that he could spend some time alone with his wife and younger daughter before the onslaught.

Despite the madness and chaos of the house, Maisie remained unperturbed. She was a very sweet tempered child. And she could sleep through anything. She was tolerant of the efforts of the three older children, especially Prudence, to demonstrate their affection for her. She simply looked around with wondering eyes at the silly faces they made and listened to their goofy noises. And she allowed herself to be passed around and held by everyone, until she got hungry. Then only her Mum would do.

Hal thought back when months ago Phoebe's Uncle David had informed Butch that there was nothing more beautiful than the sight of an infant nursing at her mother's breast. He had come to agree with him. Being the scientist that he was, he had read up on the practice and discovered that nursing produced a hormonal release in the mother that gave her a sense of peace and contentment as well.

He also knew that breastfeeding was a relatively effective means of birth control, at least until the child would have some solid food added to her diet. It had occurred to him that if they weren't careful, there could be another baby within a year. Much as they both wanted more than one child, he would like a little more space in between so that they could enjoy each infant to the fullest.

They were this tiny for such a brief period of time. Before they knew it, Maisie would be sitting and then crawling and then standing and walking, and then running. By this time next year, they would no doubt be chasing her all over the house. And it was very likely that there would be another one on the way.

At just slightly over seven weeks, Maisie was more aware and more often awake than before. She made odd little noises that barely qualified as pre-language utterances. She still had that "baby solemn" look on her face, but it would be only a little while before she would be smiling. He had a feeling that she was going to be a "smiley baby," just based on her present state of contentment.

Every time he held her like this, he felt a pang of regret with regard to the other children. It wasn't that he had spent no time with them. It's just that he had spent so little time. There had been too many days when they were sleeping when he left the house and sleeping when he returned. Too many of his days at home were spent working in his study. While he knew that he could never get those days back, he was trying to make a point of spending time with each of them now.

Hal was the easiest, mostly because they had so many common interests. Prudence was also fairly easy. She was old enough to play more complicated board games now and had graduated from checkers to chess. She was a surprisingly good player. She was not only able to take in the details and nuances of the game, she knew how to think ahead. She could even play with him competitively, although not yet win, if he handicapped himself by playing without his queen.

It was an interesting turn of events because she was actually a sharper player than Hal had been at her age. Hal had joined the chess club at school and had been disconcerted when he had not secured a place on the team that played tournaments against other schools. There were many more students at the high school and thus more competition for spots in all areas of student life. He thought that it was good for him.

When he shared his disappointment, Hal had explained to him that he had won a lot of awards in middle school, but high school was more challenging in many ways. He explained that setbacks were good. If everything came too easy, too early then you never developed the resilience to bounce back when things got tough. And if he wanted to stick with his present field of interest, he had better be prepared for not always being on top.

Thinking back on it, Hal chuckled. His older son had only been too quick to lecture Butch on the value of failing in building character after his team lost the playoffs. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, he might have a better understanding of his brother's resentment whenever he took his superior posture with him. Hal could actually have quite a bit of sympathy for Butch on that score. He himself had not had one, but two older brothers to get on his case every time things didn't go according to plan.

He tried to use that tact to try and connect with Butch, but his younger son had become recalcitrant. In fact, he seemed to have completely blown him off in favor of his new teacher, Mr. McGough. McGough was a young fellow with an energetic, charismatic style of teaching. Pulski told him that he had also pulled Martin into line. All of the sudden both boys were doing their homework and studying without complaining. And neither of their parents had had to make a single trip down to school.

When he had complained to Phoebe that just when he had the time to build a real relationship with his son, this other guy was kind of horning in on this action, she looked at him knowingly.

"Are you jealous?" she asked bluntly.

"No," he said immediately.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, maybe just a little," he admitted reluctantly.

"Well," she replied. "Don't take this the wrong way, but maybe Butch got tired of waiting for you to notice him. Since I've been here, you've always made comparisons of him with Hal, intentional or unintentional. The timing is a little bad for you, because you're only noticing him now that he is coming into his own, so to speak. And a lot of that has to do with the influence of Mr. McGough."

"What should I do?" he asked.

"Don't give up," she said. "Butch is still Butch and is still likely to make a few mistakes along the way. And it might be useful if you showed more interest in the things that he likes that you don't necessarily care for. I think that he always feels like he has to prove himself to you."

Hal knew that she was right, but it still wasn't easy. Especially when his son always seemed to be impatient to get away from him so that he could do something for school. He still wasn't sure about how he felt about the new teacher. He knew that it was good that someone had finally gotten through to Butch regarding his unfulfilled academic potential, he just wished that it could have been himself.

Downstairs he could hear the front door opening and closing. Looking at the clock, he could see that a bit of time had elapsed since he had sat down with the baby. The older kids were starting to arrive home. Maisie was still wide-awake so he got up from the rocking chair.

"So little Maisie," he said. "Shall we go downstairs and see what kind of days your

brothers and sister had?"

Maisie kind of gurgled and he smiled. He had a sneaky suspicion that once she started talking, there would be no quieting her down. He was secretly hoping that her first word would be "Dada" but he had a feeling that it would be "Mum." There was no denying it. Maisie was her mother's daughter first and foremost.


	4. A Little Fish Learns to Swim

**A Little Fish Learns to Swim: Hal**

When Hal had been at his summer program, before they had all left to go home, one of the professors had warned them that high school was going to be a very different place than middle school had been. They had all left middle school "on top" so to speak. They had been admired by their teachers and classmates and written up in the press. But for most of them, their high schools would be larger than their middle schools had been.

In their honors classes, they would be with the best of the best from the other middle schools in their city. The competition was about to get a lot stiffer and many of them would no longer be the big fish swimming around in a little pond. They were about to become little fish in a big pond. If they weren't careful, they could let themselves get eaten up. Most of them had laughed at that. After all, they were the best former eighth graders in the state, weren't they?

It didn't take long for Hal to realize that he was right. High school was not the exhilarating experience that he had originally thought that it would be. He had only been there for a single day when he realized that he was no longer the superstar science student he had been in middle school. It wasn't that everyone didn't know that he had won the science fair last spring and attended an accelerated science program at Cal Tech that summer.

His teachers and classmates all knew. They just didn't care. As far as they were concerned, he was just another lowly freshman who had to prove himself all over again. In fact, _because _he had attended the program, sometimes it felt like everyone else was gunning for him. It was truly humbling for him, after of summer of being praised as one of the up and coming scientists of his generation.

It wasn't easy to come home on that first day from school and find Butch hogging the spotlight with stories of his really cool new teacher. Hal tried to brush it off, but secretly he had to admit that he was jealous. First, his brother had lucked into what sounded like one of the best fifth grade teachers out there. Second, he had Mom and Dad's entire attention right off the bat. Butch had never been so enthusiastic about school before and they obviously wanted to encourage him all they could.

And of course Prudence was never one to sit back and let someone else grab all the attention. She made a huge fuss because she had Butch's old second grade teacher, but Hal doubted that Mrs. Winters actually held the fact that she was Butch Everett's sister against her.

Prudence had her own reputation of constantly talking about her family and of sucking up to her teachers. If Mrs. Winters had put her in the front of the room, it was probably because she wanted her there on her own account. And Prudence was probably loving every minute of it. She had never been a "back of the room" kind of kid. She always liked to be in the center of things.

But over the past month, it felt like everything in his life had turned upside down. He had gone out for the chess club but had not won enough matches against other players to make the interscholastic team. He still played in school matches but he would have to wait another year to play in the tournaments against other schools. He had also joined the science club, but as a lowly ninth grader he would have to take a backseat to the seniors like Topher who were taking Advanced Placement classes for college credit and needed the extra lab time.

In club discussions, he suddenly found that he was expected to sit and listen. After two summers of engaging in these fascinating discussions it felt weird to be on the outside. Especially since many of the same older guys had listened to his ideas and encouraged him during his first science summer program the year before. That was where he had met Topher. And that was where Topher had befriended him and become a kind of mentor.

Even his relationship with Topher had become weird. He knew that Topher had been through some pretty tough stuff this summer in order to protect Trelawney. In fact, Topher had been present when the unicorn, also known as Mr. Feathers, was shot and killed. He and Hal had had a long conversation about it before school started, but at the first science club meeting, Topher treated him as if he was any other ninth grader.

Initially, Topher had been excited about the coming year and all the stuff that they would do together. He had even encouraged him to go out for stage crew. Hal had also joined the stage crew, but just as in science club, Topher was distant. He tried to talk to him about it, but all he said was that he was too busy with college stuff for too much socializing. That was weird too. Topher had seemed to be so anxious for Trelawney to come back from vacation. Now he never mentioned her.

However Hal noticed that he was hanging out pretty much only with seniors now. He seemed to have plenty of time to socialize with them. He had his band and they were very popular. Especially since they had gotten a new lead singer, a very pretty girl named Jeannie Jones. Jeannie was a stereotypical California blonde. She was tall and slim with a deep bronze tan, and large brown eyes. And it wasn't just that she was gorgeous. She had an awesome voice. Everyone said that she was going to be the next big thing and they would all be able say that "they knew her when . . ."

She was also Topher's girlfriend. Hal was confused because she didn't seem to be Topher's type of girl at all. Yeah, she was gorgeous and a great singer, but she didn't even take science. Most of the kids that he knew had heard that she didn't even really care about her academic subjects in school. All that she wanted was to be a pop star. The only thing that was keeping her in school was the fact that her parents refused to pay for singing lessons unless she got her degree. She also couldn't get into any serious performing arts program without a high school diploma.

But Topher had changed in other ways. When Hal ran into a couple of the guys from the Trinity church youth group that Topher used to lead, they said that he had dropped out. It was the same excuse. He was too busy with college stuff. And he also had to practically be dragged to church by his parents. No, something was up with his old friend, but he couldn't say what. He couldn't help but worry about him. He hoped that it didn't have anything to do with Trelawney.

Since school had begun, Topher had not asked even once about how Trelawney was doing. It was very odd. When he had spoken to him after he got back from Cal Tech it seemed like all Topher could talk about was Trelawney. He talked about how good and kind she was and what a great friend she was to help Sarah go to Mercy with her and Francine. He had been disappointed that Grammy and Grampie had taken her away on vacation. In fact he couldn't wait for her to get back because he told Hal that he had something real important to tell her.

But Trelawney came home and Topher never called or came around. At least not that he knew of. He supposed that he could have seen her at her school, but he doubted it. A few days ago, Trelawney had asked him if he ever saw him. She was wondering if he was okay. Not knowing what else to say, Hal just told her that Topher was real busy with college stuff, his band, and all his senior friends. She got a funny look on her face and said thank you. She hadn't said anything since.

Hal was glad that at least she was happy in her new school because that meant that she wouldn't be going to _his _school next year. And that meant that neither would Francine. Apparently Trelawney, Francine, and Sarah were all loving their new school, even if it was Catholic, all-girls, and they had to wear uniforms. Every morning as he waited for his bus, Francine and Trelawney stood outside of Francine's house, each with a huge stack of books and notebooks in her arms, waiting for the "Mercy bus."

The school was smaller than the high school or even the middle school. And Mrs. Fowler never stopped yacking about how her daughter was the best singer and actress in the school. But Francine had changed. Instead of preening herself and smiling insipidly when her mother went on like that, she rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, Mother, please . . ." in a very annoyed tone of voice. The good thing was that she was so busy after school because it meant that she was hardly ever home.

Trelawney also told him that Sarah was a star athlete and played on the varsity volleyball team even though she was only an eighth grader. Hal was also interested to hear that she was an amazing science student like Topher. Thinking of Whitney, he wondered if perhaps he might meet up with her some time. Trelawney being Trelawney, figured it out and promised him that she would tell him when the first Mercy dance was. Just in case he wanted to come. When he groaned, she smiled mischievously and promised not to play "Emma."

Not knowing what she was talking about and not wanting to admit that once again she knew more about something than he did, he asked Mom. She said that she needed to know the context before answering the question and he had to admit that it was because he thought that Sarah might be an interesting girl to talk with about science. With one of her sweet smiles, Mom explained that Emma was a character in a Jane Austen novel, who was always trying to play "matchmaker," to disastrous ends most of the time.

Mom was then curious about his interest in Sarah and before he knew it, he was talking about how if she played volleyball and really like science then she might be like Whitney. She had written one letter back to him that he answered immediately, but he hadn't heard from her again. He figured that she was too busy with her own life and was no longer thinking about the summer. Mom had nodded sympathetically. Hal knew that although she didn't say it, she also thought that Whitney had lost interest in him.

Then he found himself talking about Topher and how weird he had suddenly become. He told her about how he didn't want to be his friend anymore and was just blowing him off. Mom got a real funny look on her face then. _Especially _when he told her about his new girlfriend. Hal had a feeling that Mom kind of knew what was going on but wasn't going to tell him. She wasn't too encouraging about Sarah either.

She reminded him that the year age difference between Sarah and himself would seem bigger than it was until Sarah also started going to high school. She suggested that he leave Sarah be for now and look around at the high school girls in his classes. She also reminded him that any Mercy dances that the girls would be attending would be for the younger girls anyway. As a high school boy he would be out of place.

Hal knew that Mom was right, mostly because she was usually right about everything. He still hadn't figured out why it was easier to talk to her about girls than Dad, but then he realized that his Dad would ask a lot more questions. Mom could get him to talk because she didn't try to pry into his life. Sometimes he thought that maybe Dad had too much time on his hands because of his sabbatical. But then again, he just wasn't used to seeing so much of Dad.

It was only one of the things that was starting to feel odd at home. He supposed that it could be because he was growing up. Mom and Dad both had started to treat him like a man. They both had adult conversations with him. Dad was always eager to talk to him about his NASA project and that soothed his wounded pride a little bit. In fact, he even took him into the university one afternoon to show him what he was doing with Dr. Fisk and Dr. Pulski.

For a couple of hours, Hal felt like the old science superstar again. He had talked to Dad so much about the project that he was able to impress the two college professors with his knowledge and intelligent questions. They even told him that they thought that he had a very bright future. But then he had to come home where everything was still the same. But it was as much the same as it was different. It was hard to explain.

Dad had also started playing chess with Prudence. And Hal hated to admit it, but she was a pretty darn good little player. At first he had thought that it was dumb luck, but then he realized that she was pretty smart for a kid. It was funny. He had always thought of her as a silly, little girl, but she was growing up too. Mom made sure that she was busy with Brownies and her ballet dancing so that she stayed out of everyone else's business.

And Nana loved to spoil her. They had never seen so much of Nana and Papa in fact since his first Mom had passed away. Hal knew that Mom and Dad weren't crazy about the way that Nana gave her everything that she wanted. But he also knew that they didn't want to rock the boat. It had taken Nana a long time to accept Mom and she was being so nice about Maisie that they didn't want to say no to her. That meant that Prudence hardly ever had to live with the word no. If she wanted something and Mom or Dad wouldn't get it for her, then Nana would. It was a pretty good scam for her.

And then there was Butch. His brother the baseball star had decided, thanks to his teacher Mr. McGough that he really was interested in school and wanted to study and learn. Hal knew that it was only because he wanted to earn plastic coins in class so that he could buy candy, but when he pointed that out to Dad, he just shrugged. He had a feeling that Dad didn't care about the bribery aspect as long as it turned Butch around and he got good grades. But now Dad was starting to notice Butch more too.

And in return, Butch had decided to tune Dad out. When Hal asked him about it, Butch said that it was Dad's tough luck. He only liked him because he was getting good grades. He was still mad because Dad hadn't really appreciated his great work as a relief pitcher that summer.

Hal knew that he hadn't at the time, but he now was just bursting with pride that Butch was named as best reliever in his league that summer. However, Butch was more interested in what Grampie had to say about it. But that was because he had driven Butch to all his games because Dad was busy taking care of Mom. To a certain extent, Butch was right. Dad still didn't understand him.

He realized that even his kid brother was not as much of a kid as he used to be. He no longer asked for help with his homework. The one time that he offered his help, Butch had blown him off. He said that Mr. McGough was such a good teacher that he understood everything when he left class. Once again, Hal suspected that it was because he was actually paying attention in class so that he could get plastic coins and buy candy.

And of course that meant that Dad had been right all along. If Butch just applied himself, he could be a very good student. But nobody likes to hear the words "I told you so," especially someone as stubborn as Butch. Mom tried to smooth things over after Dad said it, but Butch told her to blast off. That made Hal mad. He gave Butch a piece of his mind after that stunt. Mom loved all of them and he had no right to hurt her feelings just because he had a grudge against Dad.

But Butch came right back at him. He said that he knew that it would hurt Dad more if he yelled at Mom than him. When Hal tried to point out that it wasn't worth hurting Mom to hurt Dad more, Butch told him to mind his own business. He knew what he was doing. Hal decided to leave him alone. He really didn't know what he was doing. He needed for someone to clobber him for being so mean and rude to an innocent person like Mom. But it wouldn't mean anything coming from him anymore. He had clobbered him too many times before when he got out of line.

At least he still had Mom and Maisie. They were the two best people right now in his life. Mom knew a lot better than Dad how to make them all feel special, even if Butch wouldn't let her. Dad was at least trying now. Even Prudence noticed and was happy about it. But his baby sister was different from all of them.

The best part about Maisie was that she loved him and knew him best. Whenever he held her and looked down at her, he could just tell that she thought that he was her hero. It seemed like neither Butch nor Prudence had ever felt that way about him. And it was nice. While everyone else was busy ignoring him, Maisie made him feel special. And he really liked to help Mom out by taking care of her sometimes. In fact, one day it helped _him_ out at school with the girls.

He understood why Mom had told him to look around at the girls in his classes. She was basically telling him that he needed to hang out with girls his own age. The problem was that he didn't know how to just walk up to a girl and start talking to her. He also didn't know how to pick which girl to walk up to. A lot of them were pretty, but it seemed kind of shallow to start a conversation with a girl just because she was pretty. He was sort of stuck.

But then Mom came to pick him up one afternoon because she needed to see one of the ladies in the office about a fundraiser that she was supposed to help with. Maisie was sleeping in her car bed in Arabella, so Mom asked him to stay with her so that she wouldn't have to wake her up. He didn't mind, so he sat in the backseat next to the car bed and pulled out a book.

Well, just his luck, as soon as Mom was gone, Maisie woke up and started crying. He could tell that she wasn't hungry, so he picked her up and cradled her in his arms. As he always did when he held her, he was amazed by how tiny she was. As soon as he settled her in, she stopped crying, and started to look up at him with her big blue eyes. He smiled down at her as she gazed back at him. Suddenly Hal heard a voice behind him.

"Oh!" cried a female voice. "Isn't she just the sweetest little thing? Who is she, Hal?"

Hal looked up and saw one of the pretty girls from his English class standing beside the car with a couple of her friends.

"This is my baby sister Maisie," he answered a bit awkwardly. "My Mom had to go into the office and I'm watching her until she comes back."

"Oh, she's just the cutest little baby! Look at those big blue eyes!" exclaimed one of the other girls. "How old is she?"

"About seven weeks," answered Hal as he started to relax. Talking about his sister was much easier than talking about himself.

"What a good baby she is!" said his classmate Sharon. "She looks so happy with you holding her. You must really have a way with babies."

"Well," he replied modestly. "I do hold her at home a lot, to help Mom out you know. She's also a good little companion. It's kind of nice to have a little sister who doesn't talk your ear off."

The three girls laughed as if this was the funniest thing that they had ever heard. Then they leaned in and made all the goofy baby noises like Butch and Prudence did. Maisie surveyed them with interest. They might be strangers, but they were not the least bit threatening. And besides, she knew that her big brother would protect her. Without thinking, Hal bent down slightly and kissed her little head. Maisie gurgled a little.

"Oh, Hal," said Sharon. "I think that it's just wonderful that you take such good care of your baby sister. That was just so sweet! So many guys here at school just want to be tough guys. It's nice to know that there are still some sensitive guys around."

"It is?" he asked warily. He wondered if this was some kind of trick to get him to act dumb so that they could make fun of him.

"And how," agreed one of her friends. "All the guys seem to worry about impressing us with how big and strong they are. But I think that it's just so _nice _that you are more attentive to the baby than us. You can tell that you're not just acting to impress us. It's makes you seem so _real._"

"Oh," said Hal, now feeling confused. He looked down at Maisie who looked like she wanted to laugh if she could. But she just made her little cooing noises and snuggled up closer to him. Whatever was going on with these girls, Maisie seemed to know what it was all about.

"Oh, how adorable!" declared Sharon. "She is just too precious!"

But before she could say anything else, Mom came back to the car.

"Oh, did Maisie wake up, Hal?" she asked as she glanced around at the company. "Was she crying?"

"Yeah," said Hal, glad to have the attention deflected from himself. "But she's not hungry. She just wanted to be held."

"Hal has been taking _such _good care of her," gushed one of the girls.

"He always does," commented Mom looking around at them with a knowing look on her face. "But now I have to get home to start dinner. Hal, if you could please strap her in again then we can be on our way."

"Oh Mrs. Everett!" said Sharon. "If you ever need a babysitter, I'd be happy to do it. I can give Hal my number if you like."

"Why don't you do that dear," said Mom smiling. "But I count on Hal to do most of my babysitting. He's her favorite of all the other children."

As the girls watched, he gently lay Maisie back down and secured the straps. He was glad to have an excuse to look down so that the girls couldn't see him blushing. Then, out of habit, he rested his hand protectively on her little tummy. She gurgled and he smiled back.

"Goodbye, Hal!" said Sharon, clearly trying to get his attention now. "I'll see you tomorrow in English."

"Goodbye, Sharon," he replied and waved uncertainly at the other girls whose names he still didn't know. It was kind of funny that Sharon hadn't introduced them.

"So," said Mom as they pulled away from the curb. "I guess that you've discovered that your baby sister is useful for helping you to meet girls."

"Huh?" asked Hal, still confused by the unusual encounter.

"Teenage girls love to look at little babies," explained Mom. "And I'm sure that they were very impressed with your ability to handle her."

"Yeah, I guess so," said Hal.

"Sharon looks like a very nice girl," she further commented. "You might want to get to know her better."

"Maybe," replied Hal noncommittally.

He had been thinking the same thing, but didn't want to let on. After all, he didn't need his Mom, anymore than he needed Trelawney, to play matchmaker for him. He would just rather figure it out himself. But he really didn't have to. The next day after English class, Sharon approached him right away. This time she was alone.

"Are you going to lunch, Hal?" she asked tentatively. "Maybe we can eat together."

"I'm sorry, Sharon," he replied. "But I don't have a lunch period in my schedule. I am taking two science classes instead."

"Oh," she looked disappointed.

Seeing his opportunity, Hal asked, "Are you free after school today? We could walk over to the diner. I'll be starving by then."

Her face lit up.

"Of course, I'm free," she answered. "Oh, but I'm supposed to go straight home on the bus today. My Mom can't pick me up."

"Well," suggested Hal. "Maybe my Mom could drive you home when she comes to get me. Then you could see Maisie again."

"That would be great!" she replied happily. "I'll call my Mom."

Then she looked at him with interest.

"You really do love your baby sister, don't you?"

"She's my best girl," said Hal cheerfully, remembering that it was one of Dad's favorite lines about his Mom.

Sharon looked thoughtful and then another emotion seemed to cross her face, a flicker of . . . jealousy perhaps? Like any girl, thought Hal, could ever take the place of my little sister. As he walked away, something that he had been thinking about suddenly became clear. He had always wondered how Mom could love her sister so much. Now he understood. She had been taking care of her since she was a baby.

It now made complete sense to him why she would have chosen Trelawney over them a couple of years ago. If he were ever in the same position with Maisie, he would do the same thing. And then he made a silent prayer that such a horrible occurrence would never happen. He wanted his folks around for a very long time.

After school, he found Sharon waiting for him at his locker.

"How did you know that this was my locker?" he asked, as he swiftly turned the dial.

"Oh," she said now a little shyly. "I've had my eye on you for a while. Ever since you walked into English class the first day in fact. I asked someone who you were and when they told me that you were Hal Everett I wanted to meet you."

"Why is that?" he asked as he got out the books that he needed to do his homework later.

"Well," she explained. "I heard about your science project last year and it interested me. I thought that it was kind of neat that your . . . aunt gave you the idea from Greek philosophy."

He grinned. "It's funny to hear you call Trelawney my aunt. She's my Mom's sister, but she's also two years younger than me. I suppose that I've always kind of thought of her as a sort of sister. She's a real sensitive kid and she's had it pretty tough so far in life you know."

"No, I didn't know," she said as they walked out of school. "Why is that?"

"Well, Trelawney's parents died in a car crash almost two years ago," he replied. "She was really sad when she first came to stay with us. And it didn't help that she was really confused by American schools. Sixth grade was okay because Mrs. Griegan understood her. But last year her teachers thought she was weird and annoying. My grandparents pulled her out of school and taught her at home for the rest of the year. Now she goes to Our Lady of Mercy Academy."

"I've heard of that school," said Sharon. "My parents wanted me to go there, but I didn't want to go to an all-girls school. Fr. Bob at church told them to leave me alone. He said that I didn't need to go to Catholic school to be a good Christian."

"Oh, do you go to St Peter's?" he asked. "Do you know the Lenihans?"

"Everyone knows the Lenihans," she shrugged and then a light seemed to dawn in her face.

"Is Trelawney the girl who played Laura in Mike's play _The Glass Menagerie?" _she asked. "Of course she is, how many Trelawneys could there be out there?"

"Not too many I hope," said Hal with a smile. "One is enough for me. But to answer your question, yes. Trelawney played Laura. Everyone thought that she was a real good choice for the part."

"She was," nodded Sharon. "I saw it and wondered who she was. I had never seen her before. Now I realize why."

"Well," said Hal as they reached the diner. "Trelawney is very shy. She doesn't like a lot of attention, even though she's very talented. She's going to play Clara in _The Nutcracker Suite _this Christmas and they had a hard time convincing her to do it. She's also an amazing piano player. The band director is not going to be happy when he finds out that she's not going to be coming to the high school."

"It sounds like you two have a lot in common," said Sharon thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" asked Hal as they sat down.

"Well, for one thing, you're both very talented and very humble," she replied. "And secondly, you're both very sensitive."

Hal thought about that for a minute. He never really considered that he might be like Trelawney at all. And he wasn't really sure if it was a compliment, even if she meant it that way. Sharon looked at him and smiled.

"I'm sorry if I embarrassed you," she said. "But like I said yesterday, there aren't many guys out there like you. It's nice to finally meet one."

"Thanks," said Hal, now feeling uncomfortable. "But what about you? I'm afraid that I really don't know anything about you."

"Oh, I'm nothing special," she said. "I'm not really that smart. I like to paint and draw. I'm an artist really, so if I can get by in my other classes and get into art school that will be good. I guess I like English too. I like to read books when I'm not drawing or painting in my free time."

The waitress came and took their order. They both ordered Cokes. Hal had a burger and fries, but Sharon only wanted a Danish. Then again, she had had lunch earlier.

"I think that that's neat," said Hal. "Do you belong to any clubs after school?"

"I belong to the art club," she said. "I also joined the set design team for the school plays. My art teacher suggested it or I never would have thought of it. And at church, I help babysit the little kids while their parents are at mass. I keep them busy with little arts and crafts projects."

"That's really cool," said Hal. "I think that it's great that you share your talents with the little kids. I think that that makes you special too. Not many people would do that kind of work you know, for free and all that."

"Oh," she said. "I never thought of it that way before. I guess you're right. I actually started doing it as a service project when I made my confirmation last year and liked it so much that I kept doing it."

After the waitress brought their food, they continued to talk about school and stuff. They were having such a great time that Hal lost track of it and Mom had to come in with Maisie to tell them that she there to pick them up. While Hal asked for the bill, Sharon asked if she could hold the baby.

Mom handed her over and Maisie looked up at her curiously. Sharon looked down and spoke softly.

"What a sweet little girl you are. And aren't you lucky to have such a nice big brother?" she said.

Maisie looked back at her with her solemn expression, but Hal could tell that she agreed. He wondered if Sharon could tell too.

After they dropped Sharon off, Mom asked how their date went.

"It wasn't really a date," answered Hal.

"Oh, then how was your time this afternoon?" responded Mom with a smile. "Is Sharon a science whiz?"

"No," he replied. "She's an artist. She joined the set design team for the school plays so I guess we'll be working together. Oh, and she likes to teach arts and crafts to little kids at St. Peter's while their parents are at mass."

"I'm glad to hear that," commented Mom.

"Why is that?"

"Well," she said. "It means that she was really interested in Maisie. She wasn't just trying to get your attention. Maisie did seem to like her."

"Yes, she did," said Hal thoughtfully. He kind of liked that. After all, Maisie was a very good judge of character.

He didn't notice then that Mom was looking over at him sidewise with a knowing smile on her face. Sharon had obviously made a good impression on her as well. And he knew that his Mom was a _real _good judge of character.

It then occurred to him that although things were not turning out with high school the way that he thought they would, they were now getting pretty good. Dad had told him once that when he was in high school, he was voted the class grind because all he ever did was study.

He had warned him not to make the same mistake. Hal decided right then and there that he wouldn't. He had joined a few clubs and maybe even would have a girlfriend. Sharon might not be at all like Whitney or Sarah, but she also wasn't trying to be anything that she wasn't. And that was okay by him. He liked her just the way that she was.

_To be continued . . . _


	5. A Big Girl Now

**A Big Girl Now: Prudence**

Ever since Maisie was born Prudence had been trying to figure out how things were in the family and how she fit in. At first it seemed like Maisie had stolen her place, but now she realized that even if she wasn't the youngest anymore, she was still important. She had a new place, and really wasn't so bad. (She wouldn't admit it, but it was better than before.) She also found out that there were some advantages to no longer being the baby. Daddy was starting to treat her more like one of the big kids. He was even paying attention to her like a big kid.

When Mommy didn't have as much time for her as she used to because she was taking care of both Maisie and the house, Daddy started to spend more time with her. He was home more because of his sabbatical, but he was so used to _not _being home, that sometimes he didn't know what to do with himself. So he spent some of his time with her. He got tired of playing checkers with her and some of her other baby games. He decided to teach her how to play chess. She thought that it was a really fun game. It was even more fun than checkers.

It was really neat that there were so many different pieces that could do different things. She especially liked the knights (she was too grown up to call them horsies anymore) because you move them in any direction as long as you made an L shape. They were sneakier to use than the boring old rooks (and she was too grown up to call them castles) and bishops who could only go on straight lines or diagonals.

The other fun thing about chess was all the pretty designs that you could make on the board with the different pieces. It was fun to see the designs that Daddy made and then make her own. She liked to make new pictures by taking some of Daddy's pieces. The first time they played, Daddy had been surprised by some of her moves. He said that they were very smart. She couldn't explain to him that she was just making her own pictures on the board and that sometimes her pictures were better than his. He didn't think in pictures, he thought in numbers.

But it was nice because now after she did her homework, every night they would play a game of chess. At first she was insulted because he didn't play with his queen but then she realized that if he didn't, the game lasted longer. He also never let her win. He told her that since she was a big girl she could understand that winning was more fun when you did it using your own skills. And he promised that once she won a game that he would start playing with his queen, just like he did with Hal. While they played, she would tell Daddy all about her school day.

And Mommy, well, seemed more like Mommy. She was always busy in the house like she used to be. And she wasn't sad all the time. Maisie was always with her, but she had to lie in her car bed while Mommy cleaned and cooked. She was too little to play with her and Mommy couldn't just sit around and hold her all day like she did when she was born. But whenever Maisie was hungry, Mommy stopped whatever she was doing and fed her. It took her longer to do her chores, but it was the only way that Maisie could eat.

Prudence spent time with Mommy too, but it was mostly doing chores together. While they did the chores, they could talk about lots of stuff. And Maisie wasn't usually there. But there were times that she wished that they could talk without doing all the chores. She remembered last winter after Trelawney moved to Grammy's house and the only time that she had with Mommy was when they did chores. Once again, she knew what it was like (sort of) to be Trelawney. Luckily, on days when she had Brownies or dance class, she didn't have to do chores. Mommy wanted to make sure that she did her homework properly. School was more important than chores.

After her wonderful summer at Brownie camp, Prudence really liked Brownies. She liked the fact that once a week she got to wear her Brownie uniform to school and so did all of the other little girls in first, second, and third grades who were in her troop. Then they stayed after school and had meetings in the cafeteria. They had snacks together and sang songs and did arts and crafts. Sometimes Prudence's camp counselor, Rachel, came to help out. Those were her favorite days.

But even better than Brownies, was dance class. At Christmas time, they were going to perform _The Nutcracker Suite. _Prudence was too young to play any of the important parts, but she was just the right age to be a child in the party scene in the first act. She would also get to be a mouse in the battle of the Mouse King and the Toy Soldiers. _And_ she would get to be a little angel in the land of the Sugar Plum fairy. It was very exciting. But it was even more exciting for Trelawney. The dance teacher decided that she wanted her to play Clara.

At first Trelawney didn't want to do it. She said that she didn't want all of the attention. She even made Mommy and Grammy go and talk to the teacher about it. But the teacher told them that Trelawney was perfect for the part. She was a beautiful dancer and just like Clara, she had a lot of imagination. Even Prudence had to agree that if anyone were going to have such a wonderful dream, it would certainly be Trelawney. Finally it was Francine who convinced her to do it.

She said that she had always wanted to be Clara but she had never been picked. Now she was too big. But if Trelawney played Clara, then she would be just as happy as if she could have played her. So Trelawney did it for Francine. Prudence was proud of her. She knew that some of the other girls were mad because she got the part that everyone else wanted and she didn't want it. But she did it for her friend. Mommy had always taught them that loyalty to your friends was very important.

Some of the jealous girls came up to Prudence during one rehearsal and said something about it to her. But Prudence stood up to them, even though they were bigger. They said that Trelawney got picked to play Clara because Grammy and Mommy helped make costumes and Grampie helped build the sets. They said that Trelawney wasn't really a good dancer at all.

But she knew that that just wasn't true. When she told them that Trelawney didn't even want to be Clara, they laughed at her. They said that Trelawney was just pretending to get attention. They said that she was really weird and needed extra attention because Mommy didn't want her and she had to live with Grammy. But Prudence knew that that was a lie. She knew that Mommy loved Trelawney very much. It was Pastor Jason who told her to send Trelawney to Grammy. But she didn't say that.

She said that everybody loved Trelawney and Trelawney loved everybody. She told them that it was wrong for them to make up stories if they didn't know the truth. And Trelawney wasn't weird either. She just knew lots of things that most people didn't. She was very smart and she never lied.

She wasn't going to let _them _say mean things about Trelawney. It was a little scary, but afterwards she felt better. She remembered all the times that Trelawney had stood up to Hal and Butch for her. She knew it was the right thing to do and so she did it. And she didn't know how Trelawney figured it out, but she did. And she thanked her for being her "wee fairy" once again.

Prudence thought that it was funny because she hadn't called her the wee fairy in a long time. She corrected her and said that she was really a wee mouse in Act I or a wee angel in Act II, but Trelawney just said that she was her wee fairy in real life. _The Nutcracker _was only make believe. That surprised Prudence. Trelawney never talked about make believe. Prudence had always thought that she didn't know the difference between real and make believe.

But she didn't spend too much time worrying about Trelawney. Prudence was also realizing how important it was to have good friends like Trelawney did. She had Amy and Mary Jane to play with, and sometimes even Hannah and Miriam Tucker. But Topher didn't come over to see Hal anymore, so she had to wait for Mrs. Tucker to bring them.

She was a very busy lady. In fact, she was even busier than Mommy because she had six kids instead of four. So one weekend when Mommy got tired of hearing her complain that she never got to play with them anymore, she called up Mrs. Tucker and said that she would pick up Hannah and Miriam if they could come over and play.

When they got back home, Hannah said that her Mommy was glad that they got to come over because they were driving her crazy.

"Oh," said Prudence. "I know all about that. I don't know why Mommy thinks that I drive her crazy. All I want is something to do. Especially when I finish my chores. I'm not allowed to watch TV and I get tired of reading books. She gets annoyed when I follow her around."

"Yeah," replied Miriam. "Our Mommy is the same way. She's says that we should be happy that we can play with each other. But we get tired of playing with each other. Then we fight and she gets all mad. The other kids are never home except Sarah sometimes. But she always has lots of homework."

"So does Trelawney," agreed Prudence. "I used to play with her, but now she's always doing her homework with Francine."

"Does Trelawney like going to Mercy?" asked Hannah.

Prudence nodded. "She _loves_ it, even though she gets lots of homework."

"So does Sarah," said Hannah. "I don't know why they like going to a school that gives so much homework. I mean Topher and the twins get lots of homework, but they're in high school. They're supposed to get lots of homework. Especially since they're all trying to get college scholarships like Sarah's Mercy scholarship."

"Hal gets lots of homework," said Prudence. "And so does Butch all of the sudden. He thinks his teacher is really cool so he decided to work hard."

"Well, I'm glad that I'm still little," said Miriam. "We don't get lots of homework in first grade."

"That's because you can't read and write yet," commented Hannah. "When you can read and write, that's when you get lots of homework."

"What's wrong with your brother?" asked Prudence suddenly.

"What do you mean?" asked Miriam.

"Well," said Prudence. "I overheard Hal talking to Mommy and he said that Topher's not his friend anymore. He has a new girlfriend and new older friends and is always playing with his band."

"Oh, yeah," replied Hannah rolling her eyes. "That's _Jeannie. _Rachel says that she's an airhead and that Topher shouldn't waste his time with her. She said that she is using him and the band so that some famous Hollywood talent scout will see her and make her a star. Then she'll drop Topher like a hot potato."

Prudence giggled at the image.

"But she is a really good singer," objected Miriam. "Topher said that his band is making lots of money since Jeannie started singing with them. All the schools want them to play at their dances."

"Yeah," added Hannah. "But she keeps him out so late on Saturday night that he can hardly get up for church on Sunday. Mommy got upset with him and Pastor Jason tried to talk to him but he just told him to blast off."

"He said _that _to Pastor Jason?" Prudence was shocked. It was one thing to sass your parents, but your pastor was a whole different thing.

Miriam and Hannah both nodded solemnly.

"But I thought that he liked Pastor Jason a lot?" asked Prudence, now puzzled.

"He used to," said Hannah. "I don't know what happened, but now he's mad at him. And after he got mad at Pastor Jason, he changed a lot. Sometimes he doesn't even seem like my brother."

"That's how I feel about Butch sometimes," said Prudence. "But he's different in a good way."

"How can he be different in a good way?" asked Miriam.

"He doesn't tease me so much," explained Prudence. "He has more important things to think about than making fun of me. He ignores me, but I don't care. I would rather be ignored than made fun of."

"I would too," said Hannah. "How do you like having a baby sister?"

"It's better than it used to be," replied Prudence. "Now that she's a little bigger she doesn't take up all of Mommy's time. And she finally lets me hold her without crying. But I'll be glad when she gets big enough to play with. Then we can have two against two, unless Trelawney comes home. Then it will be three against two."

"Do you want her to come home?" asked Miriam.

"Yeah," said Prudence. "I thought that it would be better without her. But it's not. She's fun to play with and it would make Mommy real happy if she came home."

All of the sudden they heard footsteps and turned to look at the door.

"Are you three gossiping?" asked Mommy as she walked into the room and they all fell silent.

The girls looked guiltily at each other. Mommy smiled at them.

"Look girls," she said. "I know that it seems like it's lots of fun to talk about your older brothers and sisters, but you should have fun with each other and worry about your own lives. Now I just put Maisie down for a nap, so please play quietly."

"Yes ma'am," answered Prudence politely, but as soon as she left, she turned to the girls and grinned.

"I don't know about you guys, but I think that it's more fun to gossip," she whispered.

Hannah and Miriam looked at her giggled, but then they changed the subject. Prudence knew that Mommy was sitting in her bedroom down the hallway and would be listening. It wasn't a whole lot of fun to whisper unless it was a really cool secret. But Prudence had to wonder.

How come when Mommy listened to her private conversations it wasn't eavesdropping? If Prudence listened to a conversation between Mommy and one of _her _friends, then it _would _be eavesdropping. She would have to ask about it Mommy later.

Or, she thought, she could ask Nana. She really liked the fact that Nana loved Mommy and Maisie and came to visit them sometimes. When she came, she always brought a present for Prudence or took her on a special outing. She was proud of everything that Prudence did. She was looking forward to taking pictures of her dressed in her three _Nutcracker _costumes and seeing her dance in the show. And she was proud of Trelawney too.

When Prudence told her about the way that she had stood up to the big girls, Nana was _very _proud of her. She said that it was just the kind of thing that her angel Mommy would have done. She gave Prudence the big hug that she always gave her when she acted like her angel Mommy without knowing it. And she always said how much she looked like her when she was seven.

Sometimes after she went home, Daddy complained to Mommy that Nana was spoiling her. Mommy told him to let it be because she didn't want to ruffle any feathers. Then she said that it was the prerogative of grandparents to spoil their grandchildren. Daddy grumbled that _his _parents never spoiled them but he never said anything to Nana. Prudence didn't know what a prerogative was, but she was glad that Nana had it. She thought that it was too bad that Grammy and Grampie didn't have it too.

Grammy and Grampie were not the kind of grandparents that spoiled you. It was one of those things that Prudence didn't understand, so she asked Trelawney. Trelawney explained that Grammy and Grampie saw them every day and showed them that they loved them in all kinds of little ways. And there were times when they needed to mind them for Mommy and Daddy so they had to be stern.

Trelawney told her that back in the village, the family members who lived near you never really spoiled you unless they had a very good reason. But a lot of times, the relatives that liked to roam would spoil you when they came home because they missed you. She thought that Nana spoiled her to make up for the years when she hadn't seen her. So Prudence thought that it was because she felt guilty.

But Trelawney got an interesting look on her face. She seemed to be thinking very hard. Then she said that Nana didn't spoil her because she felt guilty. She did it because she missed her angel Mommy and Prudence reminded her so much of her. She wanted to make Prudence happy and feel special. It made her almost feel like her angel Mommy was back. She said that she thought that Nana had probably spoiled her angel Mommy when she was a little girl too.

Prudence thought hard about that. She liked the fact that Nana got her everything that she wanted, but she realized that maybe that wasn't always so good. It was also fun to get presents that were surprises or after you had wished for them and hoped that you would get them for a birthday or Christmas. Deep down she also knew that it was being greedy to drop little hints about things that she wanted so that Nana would give them to her.

And when she thought about it, what she really liked about Nana was that she had her all to herself. Even if Nana never bought her another present, she would be happy if she was there to listen to her and take her fun places. And she liked to hear stories about her angel Mommy. She could never mention her to Daddy or Hal and they wouldn't get sad. But Nana was never sad when she talked about her angel Mommy. In fact it made her happy. Since Nana wanted to talk and Prudence wanted to listen it worked out very well for everyone.

The day after Hannah and Miriam came to play, Prudence was helping Mommy clean up after lunch. Mommy told her that she was proud of what a big girl she was becoming. She was much more independent and she was a big help in the house. She also explained that in big families, the big kids always helped with the little kids. Prudence asked her if she was going to have any more babies. Mommy got a very soft smile on her face.

"I hope so," she said. "But only God knows. But I'm glad that I'll always have you to count on if I do."

Prudence thought about it and realized that it was nice to be counted on. She liked being a big girl. Mommy and Daddy didn't treat her like a baby anymore. They did more grown up things with her. She knew that she was an important member of the family and now she had responsibilities. She wasn't going to let Mommy and Daddy down.

_To be continued . . ._


	6. A New School

**The New School: Trelawney**

Trelawney had only been in school for a month, but she felt as if she had found another home. She, Francine, and Sarah were all very pleased that they were now "Mercy Girls." Most of the other girls in the school were Catholic like Francine, but they weren't bothered by their denominational differences with Sarah and herself. Like most kids, these little discrepancies of doctrine were meaningless to them. And when they were all in Theology class together, they mostly read the Bible and discussed the meaning of Jesus' words.

And His words really did mean the same thing regardless of whether one was Catholic or Anglican or Presbyterian. Jesus had preached love, charity, and forgiveness and had lived it as well. One of Sr. Anne's favorite maxims was, "Read what you believe. Teach what you read. Practice what you teach." And she was quite right of course.

Sadly, the true meaning of His message had been lost and garbled over the centuries. It was a pity that there ever had to be a reformation, or at least such a violent one, so much trouble between so many good people who all meant well, most of the time.

All that dreadful fighting and killing and now, poof! A few centuries later and everyone got along, well almost everyone. There were still a few holdouts, but that was why she was here. Trelawney thought of all the pain and anguish that religious differences had caused her people. Yes, it had been a very great pity indeed.

The most uncomfortable thing for her was that they read from the Catholic Bible, not the King James Bible that she was familiar with. The text was much less poetic. In fact, the New Testament translation that they were reading was called _Good News for Modern Man, _which was deliberately written in a modern dialect accessible to contemporary teenagers. Privately she thought that the translators were seriously underestimating the ability of contemporary teenagers to make sense of such lovely language.

But she was not like the contemporary teenagers they imagined and therefore King James was perfectly comprehensible to her. She had asked the teacher if she could please read the passages from her own Bible, but Sr. Anne had kindly explained that it was better if they all read from the same translation, especially if they were going to be able to discern the message as a group. Translation mattered when developing an understanding of the ideas. That gave Trelawney pause to think.

The language of the King James Bible was so beautiful that she had forgotten that the original words had been written in Greek and that the King James Bible had been translated from the Latin Vulgate. The Catholic translation that they were reading had come from the original koine Greek. She was concerned that she may have been reading the wrong thing all along, but Sr. Anne assured her that since Jesus taught in the language of Aramaic, even the New Testament was a translation.

Sr. Anne was a very sweet lady. In addition to being her Theology teacher, she was also her homeroom teacher. She was unbothered by all of Trelawney's questions, provided that she didn't try to ask all of them during class. There were times were Trelawney was speaking with her that she looked at her in a very funny way. She seemed surprised that Trelawney knew so much Bible text from memory (albeit from King James), down to the correct chapter and verse. But that was something that she could not explain to her without causing a few difficulties for herself.

Trelawney knew that the nuns had been aware of her previous history in both school and family. She had been assigned to Sr. Anne as a kind of a "project." Sr. Anne would be a mentor of sorts who would shepherd her through the early days of being a new girl in a new school culture. Yet from the beginning Trelawney was very comfortable among the girls. And she enjoyed wearing her uniform and sitting in a class where everyone behaved correctly and was respectful of the teacher.

Still, even with the lovely Sr. Anne to guide her, Trelawney remained bemused by much of the world around her. She knew very well what it was like to be Catholic, although better put, what it had been like to be Catholic centuries ago. The nuns, who no longer wore full-length habits that only showed hands and face, puzzled her. Many of them were also quite jolly. She supposed that it was much easier to be cheerful when one doesn't have to spend all of her days on her knees in prayer.

There had not been any nuns at all in the village and there was no reason why she would have met any in California. She thought that it must be very difficult for them to live so much among the regular people rather than cloistered in their convents. But it did make it easier for them to do good works. The Sisters of Mercy were a teaching order like the Dominicans. And living as they did made it easier for them to go into the community and work for social justice.

She also came to realize that not all of the piety that she had encountered through her past lives with religious folk was genuine. These new sorts of nuns lived their beliefs as well as they professed them. They also understood the limits of prayer and that sometimes you simply needed to "get your hands dirty," so to speak, to help those less fortunate than you.

All three girls, whom Sr. Theresa, their Latin teacher (and a rather jolly one at that) had dubbed them the "public school refugees," were thriving in this environment that was essentially alien to the public school culture. Since they were all essentially good people they enjoyed living and learning within a culture that shared those values. They each made their own unique contributions to the school community, which were appreciated.

Like her brother Topher, Sarah was a science whiz. Unlike him, she was also an athlete. As soon as the gym teacher, Mrs. Lambert, saw her serve the volleyball. That was it. She was on the varsity team, despite being an eighth grader. She was tall, like her brother was. She was tall and lanky, but strong and well coordinated. Both Trelawney and Francine were terribly proud of her and had stayed after school to watch the two matches she had played in so far.

Francine's talents for singing, dancing, and acting had not gone unnoticed. She was singing in the junior glee club and was the new star of the junior dance club. It was common knowledge that she was better than any of the upper schoolers, but nobody wanted to see her subjected to any of the petty jealousies that might result from her superior talent. There would be some harsh treatment for a new girl with more talent "than was good for her."

While the overarching culture of the school was kind and caring, girls would be girls. Certain things were inescapable. A sports team was one thing. The object was to win the game, pure and simple. A great player was a great player, no matter how old she was. Since Sarah was so modest about her abilities, her teammates were happy to play with her. It also didn't hurt that she was helping them win matches with her powerful serve.

Francine was also very self-effacing, but her mother was not. She loved to trumpet her daughter's achievements all over town. And the less she had to trumpet, the better. But Mercy had provided an unforeseen benefit for her daughter. Mrs. Fowler was most happy to turn her daughter over to the nuns while she, somewhat ironically, turned herself over to the psychic drivel of Aunt Henrietta. As long as she stayed out of her life, Trelawney could not care less how much time Mrs. Fowler spent with old Auntie.

Francine was also very grateful for the distraction. She was happy to be accepted among the girls in her own grade. Of the three of them, Francine had been the one with the most social connections in their previous school. Thus socially, she had been the one with the most to lose. However she was a natural leader and a kind person. Many of her classmates gravitated towards her anyway.

In fact, she had been elected as student council representative for their homeroom. It was quite a feat, considering that she had not even put her name in for nomination. And she had refused to let Trelawney do it. Trelawney was very pleased that her classmates had recognized her sterling qualities and elected her as a "write in" candidate. Trelawney suspected that one day she would be the head girl.

And Trelawney was left in peace to be Trelawney. The other girls found her sweet and amusing, but no one dared call her "weird." Her comments in class could be odd, but they were also insightful. From the beginning it was known that she was Francine's best friend and whoever wanted to be her friend knew better than to say anything unkind about the little English girl. But in her present environment, Trelawney was considered a very romantic and sympathetic figure.

As girls will often do, they viewed the story of Trelawney losing her parents, moving to America to be with her sister, and then her sister's marriage to her former employer into the stuff of "Cinderella romance." Many of them saw her as a tragic figure, but she scoffed at them.

"Tragedies have _profoundly _sad endings," she explained. "Generally speaking, everybody dies. Or at the very least they are wretchedly miserable for the rest of their lives. My story has a happy ending."

"But you are still an orphan," stated one of the other girls dramatically. "Surely _that _is not a happy ending."

Trelawney was silent for a moment and then spoke slowly as she thought through her words and the feeling that they conveyed.

"When you put it that way," she replied. "It does sound quite pathetic. Still, it's the only ending there is. One cannot challenge the will of God. It is not allowed. However, I am hardly all alone in the world. I have my Phoebe and my dear little Maisie close by. And of course my Mama Kate guards me ever so carefully. Mum and Papa watch over me from heaven and there is my guardian angel always close by. I may technically be an orphan, but I can scarcely say that I feel _orphaned._"

And no one saw anything queer in this explanation. Catholic children were brought up to believe that their loved ones went to heaven when they passed away. And it was not a very large stretch of the imagination to believe that they looked down on them on earth. In fact, many had been told that about beloved grandparents or other relatives who had passed on.

And having a guardian angel nearby? Which of them did not have the iconic picture of the guardian angel watching over the little boy and girl crossing the wooden bridge in a storm hanging in her bedroom? It was only the most cynical among them who could view guardian angels as mere myths. Or if they did, they viewed Trelawney's absolute belief as rather quaint, just as so many other things about her.

No, the religious environment of the school was far more welcoming than the secular world of public school had been. And if anyone thought that Trelawney had some different ideas, well, who could blame her? She had had more than her share of difficulties in her young life. But she was still kind and gentle. And despite her obvious talent in this area, she was exceedingly humble about her musical abilities.

When Sr. Cecilia, the music teacher, rhapsodized about her piano playing skills to her senior music class, none of the girls saw her as a threat. Quite simply, she made it very clear that she wanted no attention and had no desire to play in any public performances. She wished to be left in peace and they were only too happy to do so. In any case, Sr. Cecilia tolerated no spite or jealousy in her program. Even if they were not so inclined, all the older girls treated her with kindness and respect.

"I play for the joy of it," Trelawney told her "senior sister," who was a cheerful girl named Nancy O'Connell. Nancy's parents had come from County Kerry in Ireland before she was born, to California to make a better life for themselves. Her faint Irish brogue, the result of living with parents whose accents were obviously stronger, was a comfort to the girl. Nancy, like Sr. Anne, patiently answered questions about school life and helped her make sense of American life.

Like Trelawney, she was a musician. She played saxophone in the school band. She encouraged Trelawney to play in the little band/orchestra that provided accompaniment for the school musicals. When she fretted that it might bother the older girls, Nancy laughed.

"You don't have to worry about that," she said. "They all want to be on stage. Nobody wants to be in the pit. That's why we have so much trouble recruiting musicians."

But while Sarah and Francine were very actively engaged in the extracurricular life of the school, Trelawney mostly wanted to come home after classes to spend time with her sister and niece. A couple of days a week, Phoebe and Maisie came to Mama Kate's house for their own time together. But it was often too short. Before they knew it, Phoebe would have to go home to make dinner and Trelawney would have to do her homework.

On days when she knew that Phoebe couldn't come, Trelawney would stay after school. She joined a couple of clubs, the sewing club, the community service club, and of course the junior dance club to be with Francine. But mostly she preferred to spend her time alone. The school library was a pleasant place to read and she was given permission to play the beautiful baby grand piano in one of the school parlors.

Sometimes she went alone to the school chapel to think. She was not one for kneeling and praying, but she had a favorite corner of a pew in the back that she liked to curl up in where she felt close to heaven. She enjoyed the peace and solitude. It felt like it had been a very long time since she had had any in her life.

Recently, she found herself contemplating the odd twist of fate that it was she who would be Clara in the dance school's production of _The Nutcracker Suite _this year. She was really too old for the part, but because she was so small she was the right size.

And she really didn't want to be the star. She would have much more preferred to be a child in the party scene like Prudence or a Chinese dancer in the second act like Francine. In fact she had begged Phoebe and Mama Kate to get her out of it. She threatened to quit dancing if they didn't.

But this time they sided with the director who told them that Trelawney was perfect for the role. She was so imaginative that she could easily carry off the dream sequence and she was a lovely dancer. She couldn't understand Trelawney's reluctance after she had taken on the much more difficult role of Laura last spring. But that had not been easy for her either. She hated the limelight.

Mike, with Francine's help, had persuaded her to do it because it would be his best chance at a scholarship to a drama school in New York City. And Francine told her that she could not even think of playing Amanda unless she was Laura. Now Francine insisted again. She told her that she had always wanted the role of Clara, but had never been picked. She begged Trelawney to do it for her.

And of course that had melted her heart. Francine had done so much for her since she had come to California. She had never had a best friend like her before. She had been patient and kind when things were difficult and helped her bear the secret of the unicorn. She had even placed herself in danger because of it. In comparison with the awesome magnitude of all that she had done for Trelawney, this was really a very small repayment.

So just as with Laura, during her time on stage, she would become Clara. It was so sad to see her nutcracker wounded, but then ever so lovely to go to the land of the Sugar Plum Fairy. And she did know that it made Phoebe very happy to see her dance the role. She promised to bring Maisie as well. In fact she told Maisie all about it. Maisie understood how she felt, but she assured her that everything would work out well. She could actually be at the center of attention and no one would get hurt. That was really what had worried her the most.

There were times when it felt odd that she was no longer in the middle of so much swirling cosmic negativity. The unicorn was gone forever. Aunt Henrietta did not dare to come near her. There were no cruel schoolmates or teachers to bother her. The family back at home in the village was pleased with her new school situation. Even Grandfather Trelawney had dropped his opposition to her remaining in America. She was at peace and the world was at peace around her.

Or rather, she should have been at peace. Her soul was restless. She knew from the experience of past lives that she had work to do in the world. She also knew that such work only revealed itself at the proper time. She was anxious to pass through adolescence so that she could just grow up and be done with it. And she knew that she would not be alone in this work. There must be other children of light for her to work with. But California was not the ideal place to find them. And who could even tell what she must do?

There were so many conflicting things in the world around her that bothered her. There was a war in Southeast Asia and poor American young men were dying there every day. Like most wars that she had known, it seemed both endless and pointless. There was a conflict over the treatment of the planet and the way that humans were destroying the natural world in the name of progress. And there seemed to be a battle brewing between men and women over their roles in society.

She feared that people were turning away from God because He didn't fit in with their views of freedom of thought and action. In America it seemed to her that most people, even some of her very good friends were obsessed with accumulating possessions. There were so many poor people about, but no one felt any responsibility for them. And there were old age homes for older people who had no family to care for them.

There were times when she looked around at this world of California where so many young people were trying to make sense of their lives by taking drugs and drinking too much, when she wanted to escape as well. But she would never turn to such self-destructive methods of escape. She had a place to which she could escape. She knew that at any time that she wanted, Uncle David would send a plane ticket and she could return to the safety of the village. But there was one thing holding her back. She could not leave Phoebe and Maisie.

She knew that they needed her, perhaps even more than she needed them. As Phoebe was absorbed into the fabric of the Everett family, there was still a part of her that very powerfully remained Figalilly. She would never so fully assimilate within her new family that she could leave that heritage behind her anymore than she could lose her gifts of second sight and prescience. And Maisie would always be more Figalilly than Everett. Trelawney was their tie with the world of home. They could never return and live there. She could, but ironically must remain outside to help them.

So despite the outward appearance she gave of contentment with her new life, in her new school, and among her new friends and family, she longed for the green fields of home. She longed for the simplicity of village life where no one asked any existential questions because everyone knew the answers. And here in this place she knew that she must guard her tongue and not give herself away.

For even in a place as kind and loving as Mercy, she could not betray her identity. She knew that there were none among her classmates and teachers who were like her and her sister. And so when Phoebe could not be with her, she turned to her dollhouse where everything still made sense. As long as no one knew the true nature of her dolls, it would be her retreat.

Even before she had lost her parents nearly two years ago, she had been troubled by the world around her. Life in the village was simple, but not idyllic. Because she was so sensitive to mood and atmosphere, it was easy for her to fall prey to the stress of those around her. When life had become too difficult, she had sometimes wandered out into the green fields. She loved to become one with nature. Sometimes she disappeared for a long time. She knew that it had frightened her Mum dreadfully, but she could not help herself.

But now, caught in suburban California there was no respite. In dry and dusty California there were no lush green fields nearby into which one could safely escape. She didn't dare wander off again, after her frightening night alone back on her first day of public school nearly two years ago. She knew that she had terrified her poor Phoebe. Now she not only had Phoebe to think of, but Maisie as well. Sometimes she felt quite trapped in this heavily populated and crowded place.

Her dog Elspeth kept a close eye on her these days. Of course she could hide nothing from her. Now that Mum was gone, the dog took her responsibility to care for her very seriously. She knew that Elspeth worried about her. Every time the thought even came into her head that she might go off alone, she scolded her. Waldo had told her how unsafe the streets were. Elspeth would follow her to the ends of the earth. And she was afraid that if Trelawney took off that the little Corgi could not adequately protect her from the dangers of this world.

She was looking forward to Maisie's christening in November, when a goodly number of Figalilly relatives would descend upon them for the great event. She needed to see those relatives and renew those ties with home. Secretly, she wrote a letter to her Auntie Anna requesting some more of her possessions from her parents' home.

She was homesick, but didn't want Phoebe to know. There was no one to talk to except Tessa, but she could only do that in secret. After the vacation to Canada, Mama Kate had been very watchful of her. Mr. Everett accepted her, but Mama Kate needlessly worried about things that no one could change.

Auntie Anna had written back, promising to bring her whatever she wanted. She also promised to come with the rest of the family. That pleased Trelawney very much. Her Auntie Anna was her Mum's sister. They had grown up together and they had been very close in age. Mum used to tell her stories about those times. Trelawney knew that Auntie could tell her many of the same stories. It would help a bit.

But the most puzzling thing in her life at present was Topher. He had been her dear friend for over a year. In fact it was because of him that Sarah was her friend. He had always been her protector. Of course he had played this role so well that she didn't need him anymore for that kind of protection. And right after the final showdown with the forces of evil, he had been quite eager to talk to her about something. But she had been so excited about Maisie that she had not had the chance to see him before Mama Kate and Mr. Everett took her away.

When she had returned, he never came around. In fact, she had not seen him in a very long time. She did not entirely understand why, but it made her very sad and added to her sense of dislocation within the world. His long absence created an inexplicable emptiness in her life. There was nothing or no one else who could fill the void. She had not realized how truly dear that he was to her, aside from the fact that he always cared for her. She asked Sarah what was wrong, but she said that she didn't know. Since school started, Topher had been acting most strangely and her parents were worried.

Trelawney tried to shrug it off, but she couldn't. She knew that she could never shrug off Topher. The odd thing was that she had always known that he could never shrug her off either. As children of light they shared an unseen, unspoken bond in this lifetime. They had important work to do together. But Topher did not even know that he was a child of light and Trelawney was most certainly not permitted to tell him. It was a knowledge that he must come to in his own time.

Sarah's description of his behavior seemed very much different from that of a true child of light. But she knew that she could not have been wrong. She had recognized in his aura that he was a child of light. But something was presently driving him from his destiny. Perhaps it was an evil force that was fearful of his strength when he ultimately realized who and what he was, not to mention his mission.

Yet, she could not for the life of her discern what it was. Of course if she could see him in person, she no doubt would be able to read what was in his mind, see his aura, and know what the problem was. She would probably not be allowed to tell him however. It might set her mind at rest. She was truly worried about him.

Sarah tried to cajole him into coming to a volleyball game or picking them up at school one day. But he was always too busy. His band was making lots of money because his new girlfriend was such a marvelous singer. Or at least that's what he told Sarah. Trelawney had never heard the girl, Jeannie, sing for herself. She had never done any work that she knew of at the community theatre. And she wanted to be a pop star, which seemed to her like a rather frivolous ambition for any kind of a serious singer. And who would Topher date _other _than a serious young lady?

One day she let her concerns slip out and Francine and Sarah had looked at each other. Trelawney knew that they thought that she was jealous. Well, she was, just a little. After all, Topher had been her gallant knight. He was her courtly lover who protected and admired her from afar. Theirs was a pure love, unsullied by the physical. Her two friends looked at her sympathetically when she tried to explain it to them. Sarah even tried to comfort her.

"I'm sure that Mom and Dad would prefer that he be your courtly lover than Jeannie's boyfriend these days," said Sarah.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"It's kind of weird," she responded. "For the past year, Mom especially, has thought that he spent too much time getting mixed up in your business. But she told Dad the other night that she didn't like that he was mixed up with Jeannie at all. She was sorry that he had dropped you and your family."

Trelawney was more puzzled than ever. Things must really be quite badly off if Mrs. Tucker wanted Topher to take care of her again. Francine and Sarah exchanged another glance. This time it was awkward.

"You see," continued Sarah. "Mom thinks that Jeannie is taking advantage of him because he has a very good band and she is trying to get herself 'known.' She thinks that Topher is too nice a person to realize that. Rachel and Rebecca know her from school and they said that she is not a nice person at all."

Francine nodded.

"A few years ago," she added. "Before you came, she was in the community theatre production of _Funny Girl _and she was a total diva. It was more than acting that way because she was Fanny Brice. She was a _real _diva. By the end of the show everybody hated her, even though the newspapers gave the show great reviews and the theatre made a lot of money."

"How could Topher even _look _at someone like that?" asked Trelawney.

"That's what we all want to know," replied Sarah. "She's not his type at all. And Rebecca says that at school when they sit together she has her hands all over him. Sometimes they even go off from the rest of the crowd and make out. They're off in a corner but everyone can still see them."

Trelawney thought that she was going to be sick when she heard that. She had never thought of Topher just "making out" with any girl, even herself. Suddenly, Topher wasn't as heroic as he used to be. Francine and Sarah each took a turn putting their arms around her to comfort her. But on a deep level that she could not comprehend, she was inconsolable.

She knew that she had to stop thinking about him, but she couldn't. Even Phoebe noticed. She and Phoebe could never keep secrets from one another. Their minds were simply too close. They both knew however how to give each other the space and privacy to keep their thoughts from becoming too invasive. They were also capable, with enough concentration, of concealing their thoughts from the other.

This was the kind of thing that Phoebe would not have been able to discern from her mind in the past. Trelawney would simply have concealed it from her. But it disturbed her too much to be concealed. When they were together, try as she might, thoughts of Topher intruded into her mind. Her feelings were engaged. There was no disguising it.

Phoebe never spoke directly about it, but Mimsy and Tansy did when they played together. Tansy cried and Mimsy comforted her, but neither she nor Daisy could explain it. They had no words for such emotions that Tansy could understand. Poor Tansy understood so little in this world. She merely wanted to be left in peace to live in her dollhouse with her sisters. It was the way that it was.

"You are a little girl, Tansy," Mimsy told her kindly. "But you will be safe if you stay with us."

"Yes, Tansy," said Daisy. "The world can be very cruel to those such as you. But here you will always be safe."

But Tansy was confused because sometimes she didn't want to be safe. Why? She asked herself. I should want to be safe. Everyone knows that I cannot take care of myself. Why must I torment myself like this? But neither Mimsy nor Daisy could tell her. They didn't have the words for it that she would understand. It was so odd that although Daisy was quite younger than Tansy, she understood. But how that could be was a mystery.

And still the most unsettling quality of her life was that she could not yet live under the same roof as Phoebe and Maisie. Pastor Jason had promised that when it was time, then she would know. Therefore, she knew that it was not time. She just wished that it was the proper time. She loved her Mama Kate absolutely, but she was not her Phoebe. And Mama Kate would never stand in the way of her returning home. Trelawney knew that she was fearful of when that day would come, but that she in turn loved her absolutely. She would let go when the time was right.

Maisie, sensitive little soul that she was, knew about it all and it was she who told her how much Phoebe wanted to be with her. Phoebe lived with a restless yearning equal to that of her own. While she was a wordless infant, Maisie would be able to communicate with Trelawney through her thoughts. Maisie had told her a great deal about her relationship with Phoebe that Phoebe herself could and would never know. It did not surprise her. Deep down she had always known that they had shared past lives. But Trelawney would never tell her sister. It was not allowed.

Trelawney also knew that Maisie knew that Topher was the child of light who had played a huge role in making sure that the world was safe for her to enter. Maisie knew all about Topher. But _this_, Maisie could not tell Trelawney. She could not even give her the tiniest inkling that might set her mind at rest. It was not allowed.

Trelawney must allow her destiny in this lifetime to unroll itself in its own due course. Prior knowledge would alter her fate, as it would affect her choices in life.

But she would at least find comfort in living with Phoebe and Maisie. Until that joyful day came, she would always feel like an exile. Mr. Everett knew and understood this. In fact, she knew that he was waiting for the right time to bring up the issue with Mama Kate. Trelawney knew that when he found that right time, then it would indeed be time for her to return home.

But of course she must hold her tongue. When the time came, Mr. Everett would know, although he would not know how he would know. He would simply know. She knew that not only Phoebe and Maisie would welcome her, but also the Professor, Hal, and Prudence. She doubted that Butch would really care. It was a pity that he was having trouble accepting his father's offers of a better relationship. She would certainly work on that when she got home.

Each night before she went to bed and said her prayers, she said goodnight to Mimsy, Tansy, and Daisy. They told her not to fret. Perhaps it would be tomorrow. Then with Tessa under her arm, she would climb into her bed and say her prayers. And Tessa would tell her lovely stories before she fell asleep. And her dreams were no longer filled with evil and monsters. Now all she dreamed were happy things. And she was most grateful for that.

_To be continued . . . _


	7. Qui Transtulit, Sustinet

**Qui Transtulit Sustinet: Catherine**

As the season turned from summer to autumn, Catherine was aware of the way that their lives had come full circle. It was year since Hal had married Phoebe. It was a year since she and Rob had come down for the blessing of their marriage that had followed their elopement. It was a year since they had stayed with the children for a few days while the newlyweds had a brief honeymoon. In fact it was a year since their lives had been completely upended. And it was all for the better.

Their lives had become so intertwined with those of Hal's family that sometimes it was difficult to remember that there was a time when there had been no Phoebe, no Trelawney, or now no Maisie who were an integral part. They had never known their other three grandchildren so well and they had most certainly nearly lost contact with their youngest son. Their golden years were now glowing luminously warm in the light of family love and support. Even their two older, unmarried sons were more engaged in extended family life.

She and Rob had stayed close by and in fact transplanted their lives because they were needed, and not even by their blood relatives. Trelawney, Phoebe's sister, was the catalyst for their move. The first year of married life had been a struggle for Hal and Phoebe. There were too many changes happening too quickly, not to mention too many external stressors. Could their love have survived without their presence and constant support? Most likely, but the dynamic and outcome would have been vastly different.

Yet in between the hard times there had been moments of pure joy. There were the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. There was the discovery that Phoebe was pregnant with her first child and then the birth of that child. Despite the pain that had marked the beginning of the journey, the loss of Phoebe's parents, life had renewed itself. The past was now set in its proper place as they all looked forward to the future.

The children had each had their moments of glory as well. Hal was the winner of the science fair and an exciting scholarship. He was coming into his own as a high school student. Butch had helped his team win the town baseball championship and his travel team had come close to making the finals of the state tournament. He was showing all the promise of becoming a master carpenter like his grandfather.

Prudence had played a lovely part in the ballet performed by her dance school and grown up a great deal over the summer. And lastly, little Trelawney had proven herself as an actress in a community theatre performance of _The Glass Menagerie. _She had begun the school year at a new school that far better met her needs than the local public school had.

But now the darkest of days seemed to be passed them. Trelawney was no longer haunted by nightmares and specters of evil. Her family back in England was comfortable with her permanently living in California. The children were all well settled into the school year.

Maisie was thriving and Phoebe had regained her old spunk. Her son was no longer career obsessed. He was enjoying the time that his sabbatical had given him with his family. Suddenly, after being so desperately needed for so many months, she and Rob now had time to breath and enjoy just being close to them.

It was not until after the unicorn was defeated once and for all, that she and Rob had realized how much that aspect of Phoebe's past life had sapped all of them of their enjoyment of the present. It was like a hand from the past constantly clawing them all back into the dark shadows that they sought to escape. She, as much as they, was enjoying the routine of simple daily existence, uninterrupted by drama and anguish. They were all happy and for the most part, at peace.

It was wonderful to go down the street to visit Phoebe where they could simply concern themselves with how Maisie was growing and how soon it would be before they saw the first smile. They discussed each of the children and how they were managing with the new school year and their concerns were so _normal. _Hal was trying to fit into the high school, Prudence didn't like her new teacher, and Butch liked his new teacher but was rebelling against his father.

There were no great surprises in any of this. In the jargon of her old education classes, everything happening with the children was "developmentally appropriate." Phoebe was enjoying young motherhood and told Catherine in confidence that despite the discomfort of pregnancy she was hoping that another child would follow soon. It pleased Catherine that she felt comfortable opening up to her with her concerns. She had always dreamed of filling the role of motherly confidante, if not for her own daughter, than for a daughter-in-law.

"Hal is in his forties," Phoebe explained one day. "I would never tell him this, but we really need to take that into consideration as we plan our family. In fact, he will be in his sixties when Maisie graduates from high school. That's a little old."

"How many children do you want to have?" asked Catherine who knew as well as Phoebe that Hal himself had no doubt done the math.

"I'm not sure," said Phoebe thoughtfully. "Of course to a great extent it's all in the hands of God. And the house does not have limitless space. But I certainly would like for Maisie to have at least one sibling close to her own age. And of course I really would also like to have a boy."

"To name after your father?" asked Catherine.

"No, not just for that reason," she replied. "I would just like to have a son who is truly my own, whom I have raised since birth. I love Hal dearly and I cannot imagine a more wonderful son than he is, but he has not been much influenced by me. And I know that in the back of my mind that I always think of him as Helen's son."

"I'm not sure that he thinks of himself that way," commented Catherine in an attempt to be diplomatic. It was no secret that she had not cared for her son's first wife.

Phoebe smiled knowingly.

"That's a lovely thing to say," responded Phoebe. "But I am afraid that you are wrong. Hal loves me very much, but Helen will always be first in his heart. And that is how it should be. She lives in him as surely as my parents live in Trelawney and myself. I have always understood this and don't feel the least bit of jealousy."

"That is very kind and generous of you," she replied. "But what about Butch?"

Phoebe sighed.

"Poor Butch," she said. "I am afraid that we are going to have a rough time with him and his father. I haven't mentioned this to Hal because he is not ready to hear it, but I am afraid that Mr. McGough is now filling a long unfilled need. This issue has raised its head before, but was always managed. Now we can see that it was handled imperfectly. The fact that Hal is finally giving Butch his full attention has confirmed in his mind what he always suspected. His father didn't appreciate him for who he was when he was _not _behaving as his father wanted."

"But aren't all of the children getting more attention from Hal now that he is on sabbatical?" asked Catherine.

"Of course they are," answered Phoebe. "But Butch's turn around in school unfortunately coincides with that extra attention. Butch is reading it as his father is paying him more attention because he is finally living up to his aspirations for him. Butch doesn't really see it as an issue of opportunity. His ability to understand the situation from all angles is limited and we are now seeing that over the years there has been resentment simmering below the surface."

"I knew that it was something like that," answered Catherine. "Prudence told Rob and I about how he told you to blast off when you tried to sooth his feelings after the unfortunate 'I told you so' remark by Hal with regard to his schoolwork. She said that you were very hurt."

"I was," said Phoebe honestly. "My son Hal came to me later to tell me that Butch only said it because hurting me would hurt his father much more than directly hurting him. It bothers me that Butch would have rationalized things in that way. He was right of course. And Hal gave him the full satisfaction of letting him know it."

"Of course," agreed Catherine. "And it is worrying that his bitterness could run deep enough for him to think that way. It doesn't really sound like him at all."

"I think that Butch may be hurting more than any of us," Phoebe said. "He really does want his father's love and approval, but he wants it for his own sake, not just because he is doing what his father expects him to do. He knows that he can expect praise for his schoolwork when it is well done. But there have been many missed opportunities over the past few years for Hal to show his pride in his accomplishments outside of the classroom."

"You're probably right," said Catherine. "Since Butch is still on good terms with Rob maybe he could talk to him. They talk a lot while they work on their projects together. But what about my son Hal?"

"What about him?"

"Well, I doubt that his temper has entirely cooled down," replied Catherine. "He must get frustrated and yell. That can't possibly help."

"It doesn't," responded Phoebe. "But other than the occasional wisecrack, Butch hasn't given him much opportunity to yell at him. He does his homework and his chores. He doesn't try to stay up too let or bug Hal or Prudence, well, not too much anyway. He keeps mostly to himself, but that really not an offense. And that pushes his Dad's buttons more than outright disobedience."

"I'm sure it does," said Catherine. "Actually, he sounds like Ben when he was about that age. As the middle child, he always felt neglected. He would drive Rob crazy by pushing _his _buttons with this kind of passive-aggressive behavior."

"How did you cure it?"

"We didn't," said Catherine. "Fortunately Rob is a much more patient man than Hal. When Ben could no longer get a rise out of him and realized that he was ignoring the hostile behavior he quit. Ben and Butch share more similarities than just a name that they hate. I'd say that if you give it enough time then he should eventually grow out of it."

"I certainly hope so," said Phoebe and then changed the subject.

Catherine understood how difficult it was for her to be stuck between her husband and her stepson. Her years as a nanny had made her sensitive to the needs of children. But things are very different when you are talking about the relationship of a child and your husband. There were aspects of the situation that did not allow her to advocate only for one side. But no one ever said that parenting would be easy.

At another time, Catherine broached the subject of the christening. This time they were at her house enjoying some quiet time after lunch. Phoebe gave a sigh of resignation.

"I would really prefer a simple ceremony as part of the Sunday service with Emmeline and Tom there to stand as godparents," she said. "I am afraid that this is where we pay the price for indulging in an elopement rather than having a large wedding. At least the christening will be contained to family and only the closest of friends. I do not plan to allow it to become the social event of the season."

Catherine wondered how she could diplomatically present her opinion that a relatively large party was in order. It could certainly get that way if the Figalillys decided to descend upon them in force.

"Christenings are family events," she replied carefully. "In addition to welcoming the child into the church, she is also being welcomed into the family."

"I know," said Phoebe. "And from that perspective it should be a nice event. In the village such things are of course celebrated with a party, however family doesn't come from far and wide to attend."

"But remember that there are family members, quite a few in fact, who have not even met Hal," Catherine reminded her.

"I know that," said Phoebe. "It is of course common family knowledge that the christening has been postponed so that Auntie Anna and Uncle David can both attend. I know that Trelawney is very eager to see them, as well as Sylvia and Liam."

"What about Lewis and Jimmie?" she asked.

"Oh I am sure that Lewis will come if he's free," she said. "Jimmie is no doubt interested in coming. If he has a bit of free time I am quite positive that he will come. The aunties Agatha and Justine will no doubt come. John plans to come with his father, but I don't know about Auntie Clara."

"So she is still angry about her . . . nephew?" asked Catherine tentatively.

"Angry really isn't the correct word," replied Phoebe seriously. "I believe that the family is mostly sad. Things were such that there was no avoiding what happened. It was something completely out of human control. Like anything in life, it can only be accepted and everyone moves on. But it would be extremely difficult for her to come here . . . where it happened. I understand completely."

"Well Ben and Bob will certainly be here with bells on, so to speak," commented Catherine so that she could steer the conversation away from the uncomfortable aspect of the topic.

"Yes," answered Phoebe with a smile. "And playing lords of the manor from what I can tell. If Uncle David, Auntie Anna, and Uncle Charlie can stay with you, I am sure that the younger generation would only be too happy to accept the offer of the hotel rooms."

"What about your Aunties?" Catherine asked. "Do you think that they would stay with Aunt Henrietta?

"Heaven forbid!" replied Phoebe. "They will stay in the balloon, in our backyard. I don't expect to see hide nor hair of Aunt Henrietta anywhere about here during that time. Anything religious makes her feel most uncomfortable."

"Good," said Catherine emphatically. "It has been a very nice time without her. I hope that she stays away."

"Oh, she will," Phoebe assured her. "The stakes have become much too high for her to even contemplate interfering in our lives, even vicariously through Mrs. Fowler."

"That situation is a little odd, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," she said. "But I prefer not to think about it. As long as those two unpleasant women keep each other busy and out of our hair then they can jolly well have as close a friendship, as they like. I don't miss either of them."

"Neither do I," said Catherine. "Were you thinking of having the christening party at a restaurant or even the parish hall?"

"Absolutely not to either," stated Phoebe firmly. "I do not want to go to the expense of hiring a restaurant, even if you were to pay. And the parish hall is too large. It would open up the possibility of another madhouse like the blessing was. No, I was thinking of just having something small at the house, limited to family and a few very close friends."

"Well that would be a lot of work for you," said Catherine. "You already have a lot on your hands. Why don't you let me have it at my house? I have plenty of room in the house and I won't have a balloon in the backyard."

"True," she admitted. "Do you promise not to go overboard?"

"Yes," agreed Catherine reluctantly. "And I'm sure that once Rob knows your feelings on the matter, he will keep me in line."

"Thank you so much," replied Phoebe with a smile. "I don't want you to think that I am ungrateful. You have already done so much for us. Especially where Trelawney is concerned. I really don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been willing to stay last year and help us."

"Well, that's something that none of us will ever have to know," answered Catherine practically. "I had already suspected what your feelings would be about the christening so I am not really disappointed. And you are absolutely right. This is essentially a religious ceremony. It should be treated with the respect that is its due."

From the upstairs bedroom, they heard Maisie cry. They were sitting in Catherine's living room, but Maisie liked to nap in her car bed in Trelawney's room. Phoebe excused herself and went upstairs. In a few minutes, she returned with the baby, who was indicating that she wanted to nurse.

"Still not on a schedule?" she asked mischievously.

Phoebe rolled her eyes.

"Not even close. I've known many nursing mothers in my day and never heard one speak of a feeding schedule until I got here to America."

"Well," said Catherine. "I personally think that American doctors can think all they want about feeding schedules, but most nursing mothers here would admit that they don't follow them either. The baby will eat when she is hungry. Once she starts having solid food, then you will be able to regulate some mealtimes."

Phoebe smiled softly.

"Yes," she said. "And then it will be time to start thinking about when the next child will come along."

Catherine shook her head knowingly. Regardless of Hal's present age, she knew that Phoebe wanted a large family of her own children. Even ten years ago, this would not have been unusual but today with all kinds of talk of "population explosion," most families were smaller. Still, she would have no objections and she was certain that her son was only to ready and willing to do his part. And after Maisie's birth, there would be no keeping him out of the delivery room, and, for the rest? The Lord would provide.

A few days later, Catherine attended Parents' Night at Our Lady of Mercy for Trelawney. Rob had decided that one of them should stay home with Trelawney so that she wouldn't have to go down to Phoebe's for the night. (She also suspected that he didn't want to go anyway.) Trelawney looked a little wistful as she said goodbye.

"I love you dearly, Mama Kate," she remarked. "But I only wish that it could be my own Mum and Papa who were attending. Of course if Mum and Papa were still here, there wouldn't be any need for me to be at Mercy. Think of how different all of our lives would be then!"

Catherine did think of that sometimes. There were times when her conscience pricked her about her contentment with the changes in her life. Her present happiness was built almost entirely on the sadness of the Figalillys. She knew that Trelawney would say that it was all God's will and that was what must be accepted, but she still felt guilty. However she also knew that there were too many unknown factors to be certain of what might have happened if her parents had lived.

There was always the possibility that Hal and Phoebe would have realized their love for one another without the family crisis. She herself had sensed the attraction when she had been to the house to visit a month earlier. And sooner or later Cholmondeley would have shown up to "do his duty." Perhaps then they would have realized their feelings.

Of course if events had followed that path then there might have been no reason for Rob and her to transplant their lives here. Trelawney would have happily remained at home with her parents. Things had turned out as they had by a quirk of fate and there was no changing them now. Still, occasionally when she saw the sadness in Trelawney's eyes, she wished that she could make it go away.

When Catherine arrived at the school, she went with all of the other parents to the auditorium where she picked up Trelawney's class schedule and then sat down to listen to the official welcome given by the principal Sr. Joan. It was a standard welcome to parents new and old who had entrusted their daughters to the sisters for their upbringing. Then it was off to homeroom.

Catherine liked the homeroom teacher, Sr. Anne, very much. She seemed to be a very sympathetic soul. She noticed Mrs. Fowler sitting across the room, but they studiously ignored each other. Although the night of Maisie's birth should have been a bonding experience, it could not be. Mrs. Fowler still swore by Aunt Henrietta's premonitions and predictions. Since the Princess was _persona non grata _among the Everetts, Mrs. Fowler had been forced to make a choice. Catherine regretted that she must spend the entire night with her in the various classrooms.

The next class was math. Catherine breathed a sigh of relief when she entered the room and saw Janet and Chris Tucker there. The math teacher, Mrs. Anderson, was Sarah's homeroom teacher. Catherine then realized that in addition to spending the evening in the classes with Mrs. Fowler, the Tuckers would also be there. When the math teacher had finished her presentation and they were on their way to the next class, Janet greeted her.

"I was hoping to see you here!" she said cheerfully.

"Well," she said. "At the moment I do take the place of Trelawney's parent. It's been quite a few years since I've attended something like this. However when Hal was in school, they really didn't have these sorts of nights."

"I imagine they didn't," replied Chris. "But whenever we see Trelawney, she always speaks very fondly of her Mama Kate."

Catherine was pleased to know that. Mrs. Fowler had no more interest in the Tuckers than herself, so they were able to spend the evening together pleasantly passing from class to class. In each class, Mrs. Fowler made her presence known by asking a pointed question that implied that the school was lucky to have her daughter in attendance. Many of the other parents started to look at her in annoyance. Catherine was once again reminded of what a trial she was to her daughter.

At the end of the evening, Janet suggested that the three of them stop off at a local diner for coffee. Catherine agreed happily. Rob could take care of making sure that Trelawney finished her homework and went to bed on time. Chris commented that they were lucky that the twins were old enough to take care of the younger girls.

"In two years," he noted. "They will be off to college. Then it will be Sarah's turn. We are lucky that we have such responsible girls."

"What about Topher?" she asked. "I know that Hal and Phoebe count on young Hal to help with the younger kids."

Chris and Janet exchanged a glance that made Catherine sorry that she had mentioned it.

"Our son has been taking advantage of his sisters' age to give himself some more freedom," commented Chris. "He's out late with his band and his new girlfriend almost every night."

"I didn't know he had a girlfriend," said Catherine.

"Then you're the only one in town," answered Janet, with a hint of bitterness in her voice. "That girl will be the ruin of my son. He's so busy playing gigs to make money that he is forgetting that he has a real good shot at a scholarship if he keeps his grades up. All of the time that he used to spend working on his scientific interests is now taken up with _her. _And the band, which used to be a hobby, has practically become a profession. If he keeps this up, he's going to throw away everything that he has spent his whole life working for in six months."

"I don't think that it will come to that," protested Chris weakly, as if he didn't believe his own words.

"Well, he is trying to convince himself that he needs the money," she said. "But Jeannie is only interested in being seen and heard at as many places as possible. She's looking for Topher to provide her with her big break. Even before she began singing with them they were in great demand. And the fact that they limited the number of gigs that they played made them a pretty hot ticket."

"Is she really that good?" asked Catherine. "Could she really make it big?"

"She's good," responded Chris. "But probably no better than most of the talented singers out there. And she's very pretty, but no prettier than any of the other girls. If you ask me, and of course Topher isn't, she will need an awful lot of luck to really 'make it,' as they say. Realistically speaking, she's just like any other blonde, California girl with a nice voice. If she does make it, then it will be because she is in the right place at the right time. And she's using my son to get there."

Catherine was uncertain of how to respond to that. The assessment wasn't really negative, it just wasn't too positive. It was clear that the girl was using Topher to make her own luck. In fairness, Topher was letting her. And he was a very smart young man. She had no doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing. And whoever this girl was, it was clear that she was not having a very good influence on Topher. As if she read her mind, Janet spoke.

"Topher's never had a girlfriend before, well, not a steady girlfriend," she said. "It _seems _as though he has fallen real hard for her, but there's something about it that doesn't add up. He doesn't really act like a young man in love."

Then at that moment, as if on cue, the door to the diner opened and in walked Topher with a very pretty blonde hanging on his arm. And she was hanging. The couple was followed by a crowd of other teenagers. Groupies? They didn't even notice that they were there, since their table wasn't visible from the doorway.

The hostess, who clearly knew them came forward, cheerfully greeted them, and seated them on the other side in a corner booth. While they had a clear view of them, Topher really couldn't see them. As soon as they were seated, the girl put her arm around his neck and began to play with his hair. Janet looked revolted.

"Don't look, dear," urged Chris. Then he turned to Catherine.

"This is nothing new," he explained. "She is a very . . . physical . . . person. The twins tell us that she and Topher do carry on like this in public, even at school. They hate it, but that hasn't stopped Topher. But it's completely unlike him. I thought that I had raised him to have more respect for women than to openly engage in . . . this."

Catherine knew that the Tuckers had always been a very close and faith-based family. Like herself, they were church people. The looks on the faces of his parents told her that Topher was betraying the values that they had tried to raise him with. She thought of her two older sons and the way that Rob still lamented that he had failed with them in this regard. It was the price of having good-looking and talented children. As far as she knew, Hal had never behaved like that. Of course he was the only one who had settled and married. Finally she spoke.

"It's tough at this age to try and tell kids anything," she said carefully. "My two older sons have always had very . . . casual attitudes towards women. And I know that Rob tried very hard to instill the basic values of respect and thoughtfulness into all three boys. It was only Hal who followed through."

"That's obvious," asked Chris. "What about the other two?"

"Ben and Bob are both confirmed bachelors now, who have no intention of giving up their present lifestyles and settling down," she replied. "They do like to spoil their nieces and nephews and 'borrow' them occasionally. My biggest hope right now is that that they won't be sorry in their later years. Children and grandchildren give one so much joy in life."

"And pain," noted Janet with a touch of remorse.

"True, but it comes with the territory," said Catherine. "Now it seems like you haven't had any real problems with Topher yet. You're lucky on that score. He is growing up and part of that process is that he is allowed to make his own mistakes. And he wouldn't be the first young man whose mistakes involved a young woman."

"I know you're right," sighed Janet. "But it's so hard to watch while he seems to be headed for such a big crash. The stakes are higher than he realizes."

"And I know that feeling well," answered Catherine ruefully. "With all three boys. Even Hal has had his moments. But this change in behavior does seem rather sudden. It didn't have anything to do with . . . last summer?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Chris. "After the big storm and the . . . event in the backyard, he seemed to manage things so well. It must have been a delayed reaction to the shock, because about two and a half weeks later we noticed a drastic change. He just seemed to close up on us. The next thing we knew, he was spending all of his time with her."

Chris gestured in the direction of his son and his girlfriend. Despite the fact that they were in a diner, even if they were in a corner booth, they were now locked in a very passionate kiss. The group of kids who were with them didn't react in anyway that indicated that the behavior was anything out of the ordinary.

It was a kiss, Catherine noted, that more properly belonged in the backseat of a car. Considering that Topher had a van, it might be just as well that they were in the diner. One look at Janet's face told her that she was thinking the same thing and dreading what might be happening in that van when they were alone.

"Don't torture yourself," said Catherine softly. "I think that you can trust Topher in that area."

"You do?" she asked hopefully.

"There's a big step between that," she replied, tipping her head in the direction of the kids. "And the other. I think that Topher, no matter what you are seeing now, is not going to cross that line. It's impossible to know what's really going on in his head. Have you tried talking to Pastor Jason?"

"Topher refuses to speak to him," said Chris. "Pastor Jason really doesn't know any more than we do. But he also seems to have dropped Hal and Trelawney as well."

"I used to worry that he was getting too involved in Trelawney's life," added Janet. "I was afraid that he would get into trouble with his interfering and playing her knight in shining armor as she used to say. Now I'm starting to regret that I ever discouraged him."

"Trelawney never speaks of him anymore," replied Catherine. "Hal used too, but I think that he has accepted the fact that their relationship has changed since he's become a lowly freshman."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it this evening," said Chris firmly. "I have no desire to witness any more of that public display of indiscretion over there and I have to get up early to go to work. Let's ask for the check and get out of here."

Despite their protests, Catherine insisted on paying. She felt bad for them, but knew that there wasn't much to be done for it. She knew from experience that trying to intervene in any way would no doubt have the opposite effect. It was better to just let Topher go his own way and be ready to pick up the pieces when things finally did fall apart. At any rate, she knew that the status quo would never hold. It never did.

Where children were concerned, life went on. Nothing was ever static. Nothing was ever settled. Sometimes it felt like she had been raising her boys for the last fifty years. It was a neverending process. About all she could promise the Tuckers was that this too would pass. Then it would probably be one of the other children who would start to have issues. The only thing that was certain in life was the uncertainty. Anyone who refused to recognize that was a fool.

However, the conversation was another reminder of the active role that she and her husband were taking not just within their own family, but also within the entire community. Because they were so engaged with the younger generation, they had the opportunity to meet many of the young people who had been outside their social orbit before. They enjoyed offering support and advice as surrogate parents and grandparents to them all.

The other day, Trelawney had come home from school with one of her insightful observations.

"Mama Kate," she had said. "Sr. Theresa has been teaching us some Latin mottos for your states and universities. I never knew that your home state motto was so apt."

"What do you mean?" asked Catherine as she searched her mind for that rather arcane bit of information from her past.

"Why of course it's '_Qui Transtulit, Sustinet.' _'He who transplants still sustains,'" she replied. "Now isn't that absolutely perfect?"

Upon further contemplation, she realized that the child was right. In a very real way, she and Rob were presently living that motto. They had put down new roots in a new community. They were contributing to the world around them and thriving themselves. They had family, friends, and more than one good reason to get up in the morning. At her age, no one could ask for more from life than that.

_To be continued . . ._


	8. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Rob**

Rob could see that the time was coming when Trelawney would return to her sister's home. Catherine didn't mention it, but he knew that she was realizing it as well. He would actually be relieved when the girl went home. He loved her as if she was his own granddaughter, but he also felt that he had raised his children. And now that Phoebe and Hal had their lives under control, they really didn't need the daily support and intervention that they had once given them.

Rob loved living close to his family and in his new community. But he missed the privacy that he had when he could kick the younger generation out of the house and have time alone with his wife. He still had a few places in the world where he wanted to travel with her. He would like to do it while they were still young and healthy enough to truly appreciate and enjoy them. He also missed that freedom that they had had before they moved down here a year ago. But he had absolutely no regrets about the move.

For the past year, their lives had been guided by the needs of the poor girl. When she had needed them to move here to protect her from her fears, they had moved. When she needed a place to live close to her sister, they had opened their home to her. Now that she needed to live once again with her sister, they needed to let her go. However, her needs had given them great gifts. And there was no greater gift than family.

This was their permanent home now and they would live here for the rest of their lives. They would enjoy the proximity to their family but still have their own space. Until last year, they had never really known what it was like being grandparents before. It was nice not to have to deal with the hard stuff with the kids. He liked being in the role of advisor to both his children and grandchildren. They all seemed to appreciate his perspective and never resented his advice and analysis. But that was probably because unlike Catherine, he never tried to force confidences.

Fortunately, Phoebe didn't mind sharing all aspects of her life with her and frequently sought out her advice. Things could have been very awkward if Phoebe had been more like Helen who had seemed to view Catherine as a nuisance. Being parentless herself, it meant that she needed the loving advice that Catherine was eager to share. Having been brought up within a close-knit family, she had no qualms about "knitting" them in as meaningful members of the extended family.

His son only came to them when things were out of control and would never listen to reason when they tried to tactfully help him avoid whatever crisis resulted. But that was Hal. He always thought that he knew best until he realized that he didn't, usually the hard way. Rob had made it a rule a long time ago never to say, "I told you so," to his own sons and he held to it now.

It was a pity that Hal hadn't chosen to make that rule for himself. The tension had been building in the house for a month when, after seeing tests and papers come home from school with solid A's, Hal had uttered those most disastrous of words to his son. It had triggered a full-scale rebellion on Butch's part. Now the two of them seemed to be in some kind of an armed standoff with each other.

Phoebe thought that it had brewing for years, but he personally thought that the teacher was inadvertently adding to the final explosion. Like any young and enthusiastic teacher, he was eager to praise Butch and bolster his morale in a way that resulted in the academic turn around. Everyone likes to be the miracle worker or hero and there could be no doubt that that was what Mr. McGough was to the teachers and administrators who had been frustrated by Butch since kindergarten.

He suspected that McGough would be horrified by Butch's treatment of his father, but that was not his fault. His own opinion was that it might do some good for him to take Butch down to the nursing home to spend a little time with their old friend "Mr. Just Jim."

If anyone could straighten him out, it was the old World War I veteran, who would not mince words. Old Jim had a heart of gold under his tough exterior. After he took Butch apart, he would put him back together.

But no one had asked his opinion, so he decided to stay out of it. And it wasn't a matter of wanting to avoid conflict. In this case, he felt that it was very important for his son to learn how to work through these kinds of things with his kids on his own. Especially since he had the time now. However, he did have a brief conversation with Hal to try and sound out his feelings on the subject of Trelawney returning home.

Speaking in ellipses and hypotheticals, he put forth the idea that the time had come for the sisters to live together again. To his relief, Hal indicated that he knew that his wife would never be completely content until Trelawney was back home with them. He no longer viewed the sweet little girl as a trial. And the most important thing in his life was making his wife happy.

But more than wanting to make Phoebe happy, he had a genuine desire to help the little girl find more joy in life. Despite the brave efforts she made to conceal it, they all knew that sadness lurked below the surface of her seemingly happy existence. He had discussed this with his son and it was Hal who had offered the opinion that perhaps the only way to address it was to bring her home once and for all.

They all suspected that she would take the issue to David Figalilly when he came in for the christening in November. He intended to give it his full support and Hal would make it clear that she would not be taken in on sufferance. She would be welcomed with open arms.

Rob was pleased. When David came in a couple months, they could take care of the legal formalities. Until then, they could quietly lay the groundwork for the transition. Hal could work out the logistics at home and he could prepare Catherine for the move. It would give them all one more thing to be truly grateful for this Thanksgiving.

**The End  
**


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